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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26682400">The HIVE Mind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyExWifeStillMissesMe1/pseuds/MyExWifeStillMissesMe1'>MyExWifeStillMissesMe1</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>After The End [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gravity Falls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Badass Dipper Pines, Badass Wendy Corduroy, Canon Compliant, Dipper Has PTSD, Dipper Pines-centric, Dipper and Mabel are fucked up, Gen, Good Samaritan Syndrome, Hero Complex, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Character Death, Murder Mystery, One-Sided Relationship, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sequel, Shotgun-Axe, The characters are split up, Two interconnected plots, Wendy Corduroy-centric, World War III, Worldbuilding, cybernetic limbs, minor romantic subplot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:28:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,410</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26682400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyExWifeStillMissesMe1/pseuds/MyExWifeStillMissesMe1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When the world goes to hell, the twins return to the Falls. When they find that Tad Strange is dead, Mabel and Wendy begin to investigate it as Ford and Dipper go to Russia to discover the truth about some recent world events, and track the mysterious Mr X and his wife Elsa. Kind of Dipper and Wendy centric but everyone has a part to play.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dipper Pines &amp; Ford Pines &amp; Mabel Pines &amp; Stan Pines, Fiddleford H. McGucket &amp; Ford Pines, Ford Pines/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>After The End [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922137</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Missing Pieces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I forgot to clarify this, but Django, the Sibling brothers and the younger Stans were returned to their former time. What to do with the time drive is still up in the air.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>Piedmont, California<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>Piedmont High</p><p>Dipper opened his eyes slowly. <em>Where am I?</em> He thought. Getting up, he looked around. The room he was sitting in was made entirely of concrete, walls, floor and ceiling. There was dirt piled in the corners and a rat scuttling about. He was sitting on a wooden chair with his arms tied around his back. Easy enough solution. He reached for his right arm and gave it a gentle twist. It popped off and he slid out of the rope. Getting up, he reattached his hand and looked around. There was a dark metal door with a barred window on one wall. He began to walk over to it, but the walls began to close in. Dipper ran for the door and yanked the padlock off. He slammed it shut just as he slipped through. He looked around once more. There was red strings running all across the hall, all attached to pictures on doors. To the left, there was a door with Gideon’s picture on it. The next bore an image that made him stumble back in fear. It was an image burned into his mind; one that he saw every time he closed his eyes, yet hadn’t truly seen in over a year. Bill. He ripped it off the wall and tore it in half. The anniversary of Weirdmageddon had been hard on the whole town. He’d visited the memorial and the statue, and made a speech after being congratulated by the mayor in front of the town, along with the rest of the members of the zodiac. Tracing the string to the next door, he saw Aida’s picture. Then Brandt’s. Then Nexus’. Right at the end of the hall, all the pictures ran to one singular point: another image of Bill.</p><p>He was kinda the puppet master, wasn’t he? Dipper thought. He turned the corner and reached a dead end. On the wall was hundreds of different images. A title carved in blood read ‘Think On Your Sins.’ The images were of people who had been killed because of him. Most were from Weirdmageddon. He spotted Carter’s image. He sighed. Mabel had really liked him, but now he was dead. Because of his negligence. It was somewhat larger than the rest. But the biggest image by far was of the Latina woman with black hair wearing a flower dress. He still carried that guilt with him. He never should have killed her. The blood writing began to ooze down and cover the floor much faster than it reasonably should be able to and slowly, Dipper began to float up to the ceiling as the blood got closer and closer to drowning him. He sighed as the last of his sight slipped away.</p><p>Dipper screamed as he jolted upright. Usually when people say ‘waking up in a cold sweat,’ it’s figurative. He thought. It was at that moment he realised four things. One: there was a post-it note stuck to his face. Two: everyone was looking at him. Three: he’d fallen asleep in class. And four: he just screamed like he was being tortured in front of the lot of them. And on top of all that, he was having panic attack.</p><p>Mr Edwards (Dipper’s science teacher) looked at Dipper in confusion. “Are you okay Dipper?” He asked, turning away from the board to look at his student. Dipper was wearing a lumberjack’s cap with a blue hoodie with it’s zip down and a red shirt underneath. The bags under his eyes were comparable to the size of the Grand Canyon and he was jittering like there was no tomorrow.</p><p>“Can I go outside for a minute please?” Dipper inquired, putting a supreme amount of effort into making his voice sound normal and not sound like a broken record player that had somehow gained sentience and been forced to watch The Exorcist.</p><p>“Please.”</p><p>Dipper ran outside and sat against the wall. His breaths were fast and drawn. He took a deep breath. He thought, <em>I’mokayI’mokay.</em> <em>He’sdeadhecan’thurtmeHe’sdeadhecan’thurtme.</em></p><p>This went in for some time, until Mr Edwards walked out of the classroom. “You okay?” He inquired, his voice echoing slightly.</p><p>Dipper nodded sheepishly.</p><p>I don’t know what happened,” Mr Edwards smiled sadly. “But I suggest you talk to someone about it.”</p><p>“Hmkay.” Dipper said coldly, dismissing the idea. Even his own parents didn’t understand, and they actually knew what happened. How could someone who wasn’t there and didn’t have a clue about what happened help in the slightest?</p><p>“I’ve been told that this isn’t a on-off incident. Class has…” The teacher craned his neck back so he could see the clock in the classroom. “Five minutes left. Just stay here ‘till the bell goes, okay?”</p><p>Dipper nodded again.</p><p>Mabel sat in her art classroom biting her lip. Why the teacher decided that teaching them modern art was a good idea was beyond her. It was all abstract shapes instead of colour and rainbows and u – not unicorns actually. Everything else that made art great. Also, there were a lot of triangles involved and she was low-key freaking out. People kept asking her how she was, and she just had to say that she was fine, but she wasn’t really fine, but she couldn’t get into because they would never understand. The bell rang suddenly and she snapped out of her chair with her fists raised in a fighting position. <em>It’s just the bell,</em> She reassured herself. <em>You’re fine.</em></p><p>“I dismiss you, not the bell.” The teacher said. She took one look at the death glare Mabel sent her way and immediately backtracked, “You’re dismissed.”</p><p>Mabel sighed as she gathered her things and shoved them into her bag haphazardly. Teachers. What can you do. She slung the bag over her back. As she left the room, she turned to go down the science corridor. Just as she expected – but certainly wasn’t hoping – she saw a certain cyborg brother of her’s getting up off the floor. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine.” Dipper smiled shakily, almost as if he was forcing himself to. Which he definitely was. “Just a panic attack. Nothing too exciting.”</p><p>Just then, Mabel realised just how crazy and fucked up their lives were. Panic attacks and wake up screaming nightmares should definitely not be a normal thing for anyone, let alone two fourteen year-olds. “Yeah,” She smiled awkwardly. “Just a teeny-weeny panic attack.”</p><p>“Come on,” Dipper encouraged. “Let’s go for lunch.”</p><p>Gravity Falls, Oregon<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>Gravity Falls Mine</p><p>Ford rushed into the Gravity Falls mine with a quick pace. He’d been called by the Mayor himself, apparently they’d found something big. He rounded a corner and saw five miners dressed in scruffy overalls crowded around a table. “What… is that?” He asked, pointing at the object of interest. It was a rock, about the size of a tennis ball but somewhat more oval-shaped. It glowed blue but on the inside re were hundreds of little lights in all different colours and shades dancing around the core, which glowed a bright white.</p><p>A miner with a star on his helmet turned to the elderly scientist and said, “Evry’hin’ was goin’ normal, minin’ stone, as ‘ya do, then one ‘o ma’ guys fount’ this. Bloody pick axe shattered in’ta pieces when he hit it.”</p><p>“Is it safe to touch?”</p><p>“Cletus’ aw’ready done tha’. I told ‘im no ‘ta touch any more ‘o the weird shite we find ‘doon ‘ere, but nope. Cletus keeps on touchin’ them all like it’s nobody’s business.”</p><p>Ford looked at the man he had identified as Cletus. “Listen to your boss.” He said sternly.</p><p>Cletus nodded sheepishly.</p><p>At that moment, Mayor Cutebiker entered the room. “We need ‘ya to analyse it. Find out if it can crack the planet in ‘alf or somethin’. Safety reasons and all that junk.”</p><p>Ford picked up the stone and tossed it about in his hands. It was lighter that it looked (and it looked pretty light to begin with, so that was saying something). He nodded. “I’ll take a look at it.”</p><hr/><p>Dipper walked to a table holding a tray of admittedly gross food. Why was school food always so disgusting? He sat down and looked over to Mabel, who was at another table with her friends. Dipper sighed. Whenever Mabel asked if he was lonely at school, he always said no. But the truth was, that was a lie. He wished he could make friends here like he did in Gravity Falls. He brushed the thought aside as he finished his lunch and got up to put the tray away.</p><p>As he was walking back to his table, he bumped into a… larger boy. “Watch it nerd.” He sneered.</p><p>Dipper studied him closely. He hadn’t seen him before, so he was probably new (also, the fact that the vast majority of people were too scared to even talk to him these days tipped him off). He narrowed his eyes. A few worried expressions appeared on some students faces around them. He was being watched, it was obvious. He could just about see Mabel’s expression darken and she cleared the food off of her tray. She clutched it tightly. Suddenly, one of the boy’s friend stood up. It was then that Dipper realised that if he didn’t diffuse the situation soon, there was only one way this could go. He genuinely didn’t like fighting. Even if the people he was beating up deserved it. This guy and his friends were assholes, but they didn’t deserve to be beaten up. More people began to back up the boy. “Maybe I am a nerd, so what?”</p><p>“You’re weak. Ya’ act so tough, but I heard that yer’ scared ‘o fuckin’ triangles.” He held his fingers over his right eye in a triangular pattern, as if to taunt Dipper.</p><p>Dipper jolted back, his hat wobbling on his head a little. He clenched his fist. “You don’t know the context.”</p><p>“Right, I also heard that ‘ya nearly shat ‘yaself when Bill talked to you.”</p><p>Dipper paled as he remembered the incident.</p><p>“Maybe I should get him over here, huh? Or are you gonna get your sister to protect you?”</p><p>“Don’t try it man.”</p><p>“Oh, DoN’t TrY iT mAn!” The boy did his best imitation of Dipper’s voice (which wasn’t the greatest). “I think I will.” He rolled up his sleeves.</p><p>Dipper was clenching his fist so hard that if you looked closely and the light was right, you could actually barely see the robotics underneath. He rolled up his own sleeves, feeling that it would be much more intimidating, considering the fact that he was exposing the scars on his arms. Then he took a moment. This wasn’t worth the hassle, was it? He gave the boy a death glare as he turned away.</p><p>“Pffft.” The boy smirked. “Wuss. ‘Yer a wuss, you hear that? A big Jessie wi’ stars on ‘yer forehead. Or d’ya still wear concealer over it?”</p><p>Dipper bit his lip. He was hoping that that bit of his past had been buried with who he was before the Falls. He noticed the broom that was leaning against the wall next to him. <em>Keep it together Dipper. It’s not worth it.</em></p><p>“And your sister’s a fuckin’ freak!”</p><p>Dipper stopped in his tracks.</p><p>The boy smirked as he too turned to walk away.</p><p>Dipper grabbed the broom and rammed it through the door handles. He turned towards the boy and picked a tray up off of a nearby desk and smashed him in the face with it.</p><p>Mabel stood up.</p><p>The boy fell to the ground as blood spewed out of his mouth.</p><p>The crowd rushed at Dipper. He smiled and ran forwards. He rammed the tray into a guy’s stomach, then turned around and socked a girl in the face with a left hook.</p><p>Mabel jumped up on the table and dove into the crowd, attacking people left right and centre. Kneeing a boy in the crotch, she leapt on another student who promptly fell to the ground. Mabel got off of him and began to make her way towards her brother.</p><p>Dipper picked up another broom and started fending off some girls with it. As one got close, he reached over and pulled her hair, then hit the handle against her leg in such a way that she collapsed to the ground. He whipped around only to be winded by a football player. He stumbled backwards as the player charged at him. His head hit the wall and his vision went blurry. With all the strength he had left, he quickly punched the player in the throat. Dipper fell to the floor clutching his head. The blur gradually faded as he pulled himself up and attacked what few people were left. Mabel ran over to him and defended him from a girl wearing way too much makeup as he recovered. Dipper charged at the boy who threatened it in the first place and tackled him onto a table. He was out cold. Dipper stumbled back, breathing heavily. “Is that everyone?” He asked.</p><p>“YOU TWO!”</p><p>The twins turned to see the principal standing there, surrounded by an army of teachers.</p><p>“My. Office.” Mr Campbell was red with fury as the twins stood with uncomfortable expressions on their faces.</p><hr/><p>Ford looked at the progress bar on the machine scanning the rock. 100%. Looking at the model that had appeared on his computer, he cut the virtual stone in half to look inside. That’s odd. He mused. It appears to be sedimentary. He pulled his journal out and started sketching it. <em>This rock is fascinating!</em> He wrote. <em>There’s nothing to keep it’s insides moving, not even any centrifugal forces but it just keeps going. It appears to be a sedimentary type rock, which makes makes surprisingly logical sense (after seeing everything I have, you kind of have to throw logic out the window at times. Turns out that the Gravity Falls weirdness can make logical sense on occasion, so pluses and minuses). This would make a fantastic paperweight!</em></p><hr/><p>Mr Campbell looked at the two students sitting in front of him. They were model students in class, but got in fights more often than anyone else. And when they did, they won. Every single time, no matter what. He glanced down at their final reports for the 2012-2013 year. They were perfectly normal students (although twins were some kind of a rarity). Dipper was incredibly gifted and was in some of the highest classes. Mabel was one of the most popular students in school and amazing at art. The report for the first term after the summer was shockingly different. Apparently they both had some pretty nasty scars (Dipper had also forgotten to roll down his sleeves, so they were in plain view) and weren’t exactly troublemakers per se, but certainly got into more that’s their fair share of fights, among other things. A note at the bottom also said that the twins both had PTSD over an unknown incident.</p><p>“This is the biggest fight we’ve had in this school.” He glanced at them. “Ever.”</p><p>Dipper opened his mouth to speak, but Mabel got there first. “We’re sorry sir. We only wanted that one guy to go away but the everyone went all psycho!”</p><p>“Yeah, we didn’t mean for this to happen.”</p><p>Mr Campbell sighed. The incident was clearly caused by a mental health disorder. He’d looked at the cameras. The boy had been deliberately trying to trigger their PTSD over whatever the hell it was that happened. He couldn’t exactly punish them. “So, this guy was deliberately trying to scare you, correct?”</p><p>“I guess so.” Dipper mumbled, suddenly discovering that his shoes were incredibly interesting.</p><p>“We could help if you two just tell us what happened.” Mr Campbell sighed, remembering the time he had a meeting with the Pines parents. That was just painful. The twins couldn’t exactly deny that nothing had happened anymore, as their parents had informed the school of their condition. What they had failed to mention however, was what happened.</p><p>“We don’t want to talk about it.” Both twins said in unison.</p><p>“Look. The your class’s trip is next Friday and I’ve been informed that you both want to go. I know that you’re good kids and I’m willing to let you go if you go to see Dr Radcliffe. Also, your parents have already paid and it would be a nightmare to pull out now.”</p><p>Dipper bit his lip.</p><p>Mabel followed suit.</p><p>“Fine.” They said in unison.</p><hr/><p>Ford narrowed his eyes looking at the rock. He was dealing with an incredibly important question, the answer being both just in reach and thousands of miles away.</p><p>What should he call it?</p><p>Stan walked in drinking a Pitt Cola. “The hell’s that? I could sell it! It’s actually cool lookin!’”</p><p>“It’s a rock, Stan.” Ford muttered irritably.</p><p>“Jeez, when was the last time you slept?”</p><p>“SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!” Ford announced as he stood up, his chair toppling over. Stan looked at him awkwardly. “And I weak.” Ford conceded. “I am very weak.”</p><hr/><p>Dipper looked at the lady sitting in front of him. She had thick brown hair with somewhat lighter streaks running through it and wore circular framed glasses. She was looking at a stack of papers (which he could only assume were about him due to the consistent expression of pure what-the-fuckery). Every now and again she would look up, squint at him then look back at the papers. After that, she would make some notes on notepad (she was already on page three and it had only been ten minutes) and look back at the papers. Eventually, she pushed them away.</p><p>“Hello Mason.” She smiled.</p><p>“Dipper.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“It’s just Dipper.”</p><p>“Oh, okay. I’m Dr Radcliffe.” She reached out to shake Dipper’s hand. He jerked away. “Huh.” She scribbled another note down. “Whaddaya know? I think we should start with you,” She smiled. “Telling me what happened.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“I can’t help you if I don’t know Dipper.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t be able to help if you did.”</p><p>“Let’s look at you triggers, shall we? The colour yellow, triangles, handshakes, deals, blue fire, top hats, bow ties, the back of dollar bills, the name Bill, the word cipher, pine trees and on top of all that you also have ommetaphobia. That’s quite a list.” Radcliffe bit her lip. “Please just tell me. You don’t have to say everything and you can take your time, but I just want to help.”</p><p>Dipper thought for a moment. He was seriously considering something he hadn’t thought about in a really long time.</p><p>“Can I just go outside for a minute?”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Dipper bolted out the door and dialled Mabel’s number. She had been scheduled to come to Radcliffe after tomorrow’s school day.</p><hr/><p>Ford opened his eyes slowly. Sitting up, he saw Stan sitting on the couch next to him.</p><p>“Heya sleepyhead.” He said. “You were really outta’ it, so I decided it was best to let ‘ya sleep.”</p><p>Ford smiled. “Thank you Stanley.”</p><p>“For eighty-three hours.”</p><p>“WHAT.”</p><p>“‘Ya slept fer’ eighty-three hours. What’s the big deal?”</p><p>“I need to get back to analysing the-” Ford cut himself off. “That’s it!”</p><p>“You got some crazy discovery or some’pin?”</p><p>“I remember seeing something like this before! It was called a Diviner!”</p><p>“And there’s the big reveal we’ve all been waitin’ for.”</p><hr/><p>Dipper walked back into the room. His right sleeve was rolled up and he was biting his lip. “I’m going to tell you.” He announced with conviction.</p><p>Radcliffe smiled. “Great! We’re making progress already. This is good!”</p><p>“On one condition. This information does not leave this room under any circumstances. The only people it can be mentioned to is Mable and our parents.”</p><p>“Okay…”</p><p>Dipper reached for his hand. “Just don’t freak out, okay?” He gave it a twist and it popped off.</p><p>Lindsay Radcliffe had been expecting something weird.</p><p>But she hadn’t been expecting that.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Toldja</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Axolotl decides to take 46’\ to hell.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I’m making a retcon: Dipper switched to contact lenses after Back ‘Home.’ They have the same properties, I just don’t think he quite suits glasses.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Piedmont, California<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>Piedmont High</p><p>“What—” Radcliffe pointed at the young, one armed boy standing in front of her— “the bloody hell.”</p><p>“I should probably explain,” Dipper said as he reattached his hand and sat down. He didn’t trust her. Then again, he didn’t trust anyone these days. But he was getting desperate. He couldn’t live like this for any longer, it was like his last traumas were eating away at his sanity bit by bit. “It all started when we first went to Gravity Falls…”</p><p>“… then Gideon tried to kill us with his giant robot,”</p><p>“I got possessed by…”</p><p>“Then he tried to end the world,”</p><p>“Then I killed her,”</p><p>“And now he’s dead,” Dipper concluded his tale.</p><p>Radcliffe looked at her patient with sympathy. He’d been on the verge of tears during certain parts of his story. It was ridiculous, all of it. But she believed him. Every last word of it. It wasn’t just that he had a robot hand or that all the evidence lined up, no, it was because no one was that good of an actor. She knew the eyes of an innocent child, and they weren’t it. Dipper had the eyes you could commonly see on war veteran’s faces, just constantly darting around and on guard. Dipper had just said it all so earnestly that Radcliffe hadn’t for a second thought that he was talking out of his arse. “I’m sorry,” she said.</p><p>Dipper asked in an accusatory tone, “You don’t believe me, do you?”</p><p>“I do,” Radcliffe smiled, “so, tell me if I’m wrong: the trauma originated from getting possessed, Weirdmageddon and killing Aida.”</p><p>“Killing her was more—” Dipper rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly—“guilt, more than anything else,” he cleared his throat. “The other two… yeah.”</p><p>“So which one was worse?” asked Radcliffe, genuinely curious.</p><p>“Getting possessed,” Dipper said immediately. “I know that the <em>literal end of time</em> should really be worse, but I just can’t bring myself to believe it. That time just felt more… personal. I mean, he was going to throw my body off the water tower then go after Mabel. I mean, who does that?”</p><p>Radcliffe sighed. “Let’s start with that then. How did you react to the immediate trauma?”</p><p>Dipper bit his lip. “I hid in the Mystery Shack’s hidden trapdoor for two days straight.”</p><p>“And how did you spend those two days?”</p><p>“Crying. Lots of crying and shaking and taking deep breaths and…” Dipper paused for a moment, “and just lots of… thinking. I’d ruined Mabel’s play and I’d brought it on myself.”</p><p>“So do you blame yourself for Weirdmageddon too?”</p><p>Dipper nodded sheepishly.</p><p>“You mentioned that the remains of his… his body is still there. Essentially his corpse. Have you ever been to it?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dipper’s voice wavered, “once. I just went there and let it all out. I was there for about twenty minutes. Haven’t been back since.”</p><p>“I think you should be going at least every few days when you’re in Gravity Falls.”</p><p>“I don’t want—” Dipper cut himself off— “I can’t. I can’t and I won’t and I don’t want to.” He placed his head in his hands, clearly embarrassed. “I’m sorry. We’re here talking about my issues and I just dumped all this information on you and it’s not fair, I should’ve given you some time to process it and I – I – I – uuugghhh!”</p><p>“Well you’re the patient and you have <em>a lot</em> of pent up issues. Issues that you suppress but they get through sometimes. And when they do, you don’t know how to handle them, leading to trust and anger issues.”</p><p>“… wow,” Dipper said. “You got all that just from me rambling for ten seconds?”</p><p>“I’m a psychiatrist and not a medic for a reason you know.”</p><p>Dipper thought for a moment, then asked, “why?”</p><p>“Because mental wounds are much harder to heal that physical ones,” Radcliffe smiled, “and not enough people appreciate that these day, even those idiot teachers that give the presentations on how important it is. They don’t care because they don’t know what it’s like. They bury their heads in the sand and pretend like it’s not a problem, but if they developed those issues they would be telling people to pay attention. They say they understand but they don’t, because <em>they don’t care.</em> I mean, obviously family and stuff do, but teachers? Hell no. And even family members, they say they understand but they just—”</p><p>“—don’t,” Dipper finished. “You sound like you get it.”</p><p>“That’s because I do, Dipper. I’ve been where you are now, thinking that everyone in the world’s out to get me. I know what it’s like and how hard it is, that’s why I take my job so seriously. I was on the other side of this conversation when I was your age and I got through it. I still flashes of it occasionally though. You’ll never be able to heal it completely, but you can heal it enough.”</p><p>“You do understand, don’t you?”</p><p>“I understand what you’re going through, not what the trauma was like. They’re different things.”</p><p>They sat in silence for a few moments (it was one of those times where both parties were just staring at the ground and it was pure awkward), before Dipper said, “I fall asleep in class because I never get any at home, I – I just keep getting these horrible nightmares, but then I have them in school, so it’s kinda like people think I’m that weird quiet kid, which I kinda am, but that’s not all I am but that’s all I feel like I am sometimes because there’s this stereotype that the quiet kid always has, like… weapons in his house and kinda fucked up, and I really am and like, I have a gun on me at all times, so it’s like… what?”</p><p>“I’m going to say five words,” Radcliffe pulled a sheet of paper from her desk, “and you’re going to say the first word that comes to your mind, got it?”</p><p>Dipper nodded slowly.</p><p>“Gun.”</p><p>“Shot.”</p><p>“Heart.”</p><p>“Target.”</p><p>Radcliffe tried again, “Star?”</p><p>“Mabel.”</p><p>“Brick?”</p><p>“Weapon,” Dipper replied with conviction.</p><p>“Tree.”</p><p>“What?” Dipper asked.</p><p>Radcliffe repeated, “tree.”</p><p>“… me.”</p><p>Radcliffe sighed, then said, “our time’s almost up.”</p><p>Gravity Falls, Oregon<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>The Mystery Shack</p><p>Ford looked at the diviner and poked it. He had absolutely no idea what it did but what he had found out was that whatever it could be used for, it wasn’t good and that it could be stopped by a slightly modified version of the unicorn spell. And he knew that things stopped by unicorn hair were never good. That always meant something terrible. The most annoying part however, was that the spell needed an accompanying incantation to function, which he didn’t know. He opened his drawer and pulled a small silver disc out from it. It was a device he had created to amplify spells, essentially a miniaturised version of what Stonehenge was meant to do. Ford smirked. He loved discovering hidden truths behind important world events, it was like realising that there was one more season to your favourite show that you hadn’t known even existed.</p><p>Then he made his decision.</p><p>He had to put it in the vault.</p><hr/><p>Dipper stuffed his lunch into his bag as he ran down the stairs. He was feeling better than he had in a very long time. His sessions with Dr Radcliffe ya sheen helping a lot and he hadn’t felt this good since before going to Gravity Falls. He was finally beginning to feel like his old self again. Of course, he was probably overstating it, they had – in reality – barely made a dent in it. Of course the trauma wasn’t gone completely, that was a given. He liked who he was now, he was everything his twelve year-old self wanted to be. Brave, confident and tough. Willing to make the hard call even when no one else was. There were things that he didn’t like however and his PTSD was one of them. Weirdmageddon was so integral to who he was today it was almost funny and he felt horrible to know that he was glad that it happened. He was ashamed to admit it but he had enjoyed himself, at least when they were in the Shack. Not when he was on his own. He hated the incessant nightmares and panic attacks. He wanted to eat nachos again, but ever since the possession incident he couldn’t even be in the same room as them. The smell alone was enough to send him into an agonising flashback (Bill had smelled very similar to a bowl of nachos after he’d gained physical form) and be out of it for the rest of the day.</p><p>“Kids!” shouted Helen from downstairs. “You’re going to miss the bus!”</p><p>“I know, I know.” Suddenly, Dipper tripped on the the last step and hit the floor, his gun coming out of his vest pocket.</p><p>Helen sighed. “Mason, you’re not taking that to school.”</p><p>Dipper flinched at the use of his real name. “Sorry, it’s just I…” he searched for the right word. “I just don’t feel safe without it.”</p><p>“You have <em>got</em> to be—” Helen then had a thought it wouldn’t change anything to take it off him. He could already cave someone’s chest in with his bare hands and he would only use it in self defence (in stun mode no less)—“keep it. You never know.”</p><p>Dipper gave a genuine smile, a sight that was rather rare these days and said, “thanks.”</p><p>Suddenly Mabel fell (literally) down the stairs, tumbling down them faster than a zebra running from a cheetah. “Ow,” she mumbled as she picked herself up, “I think I broke my everything bone.”</p><p>“That’s not a thing Mabel.” Dipper reached out a hand, which his sister gladly took as she stood up.</p><p>Mabel said as they walked out the door, “you’re just a big ‘ol killjoy Dipper! Come on, where’s my happy bro-bro?”</p><p>Dipper’s face stayed frozen in the same stoic expression that seemed to be on his face 24/7 theses days.</p><p>“Ugh,” moaned Mabel, “we’ve got the big trip today! Why aren’t you excited?”</p><p>“I‘ve been to another dimension. To the past and the literal void of nothingness. I’ve been inside Grunkle Stan’s mind and let’s not forget the literal <em>end of time</em>. Oh, did I mention I’ve been in an actual UFO?”</p><p>“So maybe you’re not <em>actually</em> excited, but you could at least pretend to be for the people that want to enjoy themselves. Like me!”</p><p>“Fine,” Dipper smirked.</p><p>“We’re going to Washington, Dipper!” Mabel leaned over and put her arm around Dipper’s shoulders. “DC, the place where people become presidents, guys become spies, people imaginate things and DREAMS COME TRUE!”</p><p>“How much coffee have you had today? Also, the place where people become spies is Virginia. It’s the FBI headquarters that’s in DC.”</p><p>“You see what I mean?” Mabel joked as she climbed up the steps to the bus and handed the driver a dollar. “Killjoy! You’re boooooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnngggggg.”</p><p>“Yeah yeah,” Dipper smiled as he paid his fare and sat down next to Mabel – in the very front seat – and pulled out his phone.</p><p>“You excited for the trip?” Lance asked as he walked by.</p><p>“Yeah,” said Dipper sarcastically.</p><p>Ford walked into the Gravity Falls town hall and walked over to the front desk, then cleared his throat.</p><p>The secretary looked up at him, “hello, how may I help you?” She asked, her fake, slightly too wide smile screaming ‘just kill me now.’</p><p>“I need to put this in the vault,” Ford held the diviner up.</p><p>“Sure, can I just get your identification please?”</p><p>Ford slid his driver’s license across the counter and the woman took the rock from his hands. “We just need you to file a quick report and talk to the mayor about it, okay?” she tilted her head (which was supposed to be a nice gesture, but just ended in her looking like a psychopath), “okay.”</p><p>Ford sighed in exasperation. This was going to take a while.</p><p>Washington DC<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>Piedmont High School Bus 618 </p><p>Dipper sat on the bus once more, albeit a somewhat less gross one. Key word <em>somewhat</em>. He was sitting next to Mabel right at the back of the bus on his way to Washington DC. They had been on the bus for absolutely <em>ages</em> now. They were getting close , he could feel it. They were travelling – very slowly – across a low hanging bridge over what looked to be a rather deep river.</p><p>“Dipper?” Mabel held out her hand. “Thumb war?”</p><p>Dipper smiled, “okay.” He put his hand in hers and prepared.</p><p>“One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war,” they said in unison, before Dipper immediately squished Mabel’s thumb onto her hand.</p><p>“Hey, no fair!” she moaned. “You used your ro – right hand. You can’t use the stronger one!”</p><p>“Mabel, we’re ambidextrous.”</p><p>“Yeah, but you have an advantage with the—” she leaned in and lowered her voice—“robot hand. Also, you’re stronger anyway!”</p><p>“I’ll use my left hand then.”</p><p>They said again, “one, two—” suddenly an explosion echoed in the distance. The building that had been blown up started to collapse in spectacular fashion. At the same time, a car travelling next to the bus veered to the right (presumably shocked by the explosion) and sent the bus off the edge of the bridge. Dipper grabbed Mabel as the bus careened into the water.</p><p>After the screaming had died down, Dipper got up and rubbed his head. The water was beginning to rise. “I’ll get the door,” he said. “You help them.” A few people were having panic attacks in the back, something the twins were all to familiar with. As he got to the door, he pulled on to no avail. The bus abruptly rolled over and he clung to a bar to avoid falling.</p><p>“We’re all gonna die! I put <em>so</em> much effort into my makeup this morning only for me to—”</p><p>“Pull yourself together!” Mabel slapped her friend across the face, hard. “We’re not pushover people. We’re not gonna die!”</p><p>“The water is at our necks,” Chris shivered. “We’re done.”</p><p>“Dipper’ll get the door! Everyone take a breath!”</p><p>Dipper took quick and rapid breath for a few seconds. Anyone would think he was hyperventilating, but he was lowering the Co<sub>2</sub> in his blood so he could hold his breath for longer. The water reached the ceiling as the bus settled on the floor. Discreetly, Dipper activated his shield and pressed it against the door. The pine tree symbol in the middle glowed a bright blue. The door began to sizzle, before the shield got through. Dipper kicked the door open and motioned for everyone to follow him.</p><p>Mabel broke through the water and took a heaving breath as everyone else surfaced. “That was fun. I told you we’d be okay. Dipper got through the—” Mabel looked around in horror. Many people had seen fear in her eyes before (it wasn’t exactly uncommon), whether it was mentioning triangles and trying t9 shake her hand. This time however, it was like nothing anyone had ever seen. It was an expression of pure terror.</p><p>Dipper burst through the surface of the water clutching another boy. “Lance!” he shouted as he slapped his friend’s face. “Come on, we need to get to land.”</p><p>As they were swimming, Mabel looked at Dipper and said, “what was that building that exploded?”</p><p>“The FBI headquarters,” Dipper muttered with a grim expression on his face.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter is essentially all setup to be honest. The diviner, the spell device, the unicorn spell and the incantation will all be essential to the story (also I hope the banter between the twins is good in this, because they’re split up for the vast majority of the story). On top of that, the bombings are what set the plot in motion, as well as to just act as a way to cover up most of the plot holes and answer some questions, the most important being: who is Mr X and who killed Tad Strange?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Domino Affected</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The world crumbles to the ground as the Pines watch.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I should have clarified this, but this story takes place a few weeks after The Outsider.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Piedmont, California<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>Piedmont High</p><p>“Hello and welcome,” the newsreader said. “My name is Daniel Dooley and this is the news. Earlier today at approximately 1:00pm, many intelligence agency headquarters across the globe were bombed in what appears to be a coordinated attack. These include—” he took a deep breath before continuing—“the FBI, MI6, MI5, CIA, MSS, ASIS and the SNRP. Two notable exceptions to this were the  German and Russian secret services, and officials suggest that said countries could be the culprits of these unspeakable attacks. The casualty numbers as of now are unknown.”</p><p>Dipper leaned on the table with a sour expression on his face. They had gotten back home safely, but not at a cost. Lance was dead. He’d drowned, as had the bus driver and the teacher. He could’ve saved them.</p><p>He should’ve.</p><p>Gravity Falls, Oregon<br/>North America<br/>Earth (46’\)<br/>Gravity Falls Town Hall</p><p>“Name,” the supernatural ambassador asked. He was a thin man of average height. He wore a pair of glasses and a long black coat (the customary attire of supernatural ambassadors” and he was Nexus’ replacement. He’d only been elected a few days ago and as far as Ford knew, he was a dragon (they could switch between lizard-thing and human forms). The man ran a hand through his auburn hair before looking back at Ford.</p><p>“Stanford Filbrick Pines,” Ford said, wincing as he did. He hated his father at the best of times, he didn’t need his own name as a reminder.</p><p>“Family?” The dragon’s voice was as ordinary as could be, a tactic used to drive away any outside suspicion about the supernatural.</p><p>“Dipper Pines, you night have him as Mason there. Mabel Pines, Stanley Pines, Sherman Pines, Helen Pines, Robert Pines, Filbrick Pines and Caryn Pines.”</p><p>“Item?”</p><p>“A diviner. I don’t know what it does, but it’s nothing good.”</p><p>“And you want to put it in the vault”</p><p>“Yes,” Ford answered.</p><p>“… item 618. The ambassador wrote a something down on his notepad. “Is it safe to touch?”</p><p>“Yes. I’ve done rigorous testing and discovered that it’s perfectly safe unless activated.”</p><p>“We’ll take care of it.”</p><p>2 Weeks Later</p><p>“Hey Bro-bro,” Mabel said as she walked up holding a Pitt Cola. “You’ve been all sad and stuff ever since we got back.” She placed the drink on the table and sat next to her brother. “It wasn’t your fault.”</p><p>Dipper bowed his head as Mabel placed her arm over his shoulders. “You’ll be okay.”</p><p>The TV then suddenly cut to an image of the British prime minister who was standing behind a podium. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a red tie. His hair was light blond and the exact opposite of neat. It genuinely looked like someone had industrially ran a balloon across the top of his head. “Hello, good morning, good morning. In light of the attacks on the world’s intelligence agencies – specifically MI6 and MI5 – we have come to the conclusion that Germany is the obvious culprit. As of now, we are at war.”</p><p>Helen walked into the room just in time to hear this announcement and a look of shock passed over her face. “Shit,” she muttered.</p><p>Dipper walked into history and sat down in his seat, sighing. He’d talked to Radcliffe right after he got back from Washington about his feelings on the matter. How it was his fault. She’d promptly said that he had something called, ‘Good Samaritan Syndrome,’ which essentially meant that that he felt like that it was his job to keep people safe, except replace the word people with the world. So, a rather extreme case. He was still a bit shocked that he’d told her what had happened in the Falls at all.</p><p>“Right everyone, the teacher said. “Using what you learned last lesson, make a poster on the subject with partner and before you ask, no you can’t choose who to work with.” He looked around the room and pointed at a boy who was sitting on his phone at the back of the class. “Evan, get that phone away I’m keeping it until the end of the period. You’re with Alana. Mabel, you’re with Barry.”</p><p>Mabel promptly rolled her eyes in exasperation.</p><p>“Bethan, you go with Jack. Chloe, you go with…” he searched the room for someone of comparable intelligence. “… Dipper.”</p><p>Dipper hadn’t really been paying attention to what his teacher was saying when someone sat down next to him.</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p>He quickly turned to look at the girl. She had long dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes hiding behind a pair of circular-framed glasses that magnified her eyes to about twice the size. She also wore a white and pink scarf over her black jumper. Everything about her screamed ‘awkward nerd.’ He recognised her, buther, but had never actually spoken to her.</p><p>She held out her hand and said, “I’m Chlay-ey. CHLOE! I mean Chloe.”</p><p>Dipper looked at her hand and seemed to turn inside out with fear.</p><p>“Oh, sorry,” Chloe smiled. “I forgot you don’t do that.”</p><p>“You…” Dipper pointed at her. “You know who I am?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah. Obviously. Everyone knows who you and your sister are, you two are like… like…” after a few seconds of stammering she came to a conclusion and said, “you two are cool.” She held out her hand again, this time in a fist. “You do fist bumps?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dipper smiled as he hit his fist against hers. “So what were we learning about yesterday? I was kinda… lost in thought.”</p><p>“This class is <em>way</em> too easy, so I can see where you’re coming from.”</p><p>“It was to do with World War One, right?”</p><p>“Yep. And I don’t think anyone failed to see the irony in that.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“Well,” Chloe smiled. “With the way things are going – with the UK declaring war on Germany and all that stuff.”</p><p>Dipper scoffed. “What, do you think World War Three’s gonna happen or something?”</p><p>“Maybe, it’s certainly possible.” They sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Chloe said, “thank you.”</p><p>“W-what?”</p><p>“I was on the bus. You saved everyone.”</p><p>“Oh, uh, thanks… it’s, it’s nothing… really,” Dipper stammered. “I was just… just trying to… to… to help! Yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for.” He smiled awkwardly.</p><p>“No, really. Thank you. I know everyone wants to know what happened on your summer holiday, but I just don’t care. I really don’t. I mean, I’d love to find out, but you obviously don’t want to talk about it, so I won’t pry. All I need to know is that you saved my life.”</p><p>“Oh, uh… thanks,” Dipper smiled. “So, completely random topic not related to the previous, do you believe in the supernatural?”</p><p>Chloe looked flabbergasted. “No, duh. It would’ve been proven by now and then it would just be normal. There’d be nothing <em>super</em> about it.”</p><p>“But what if… what if it had been,” Dipper questioned. “And people had been keeping it a secret?”</p><p>“Then why would it not be all over the world?”</p><p>“Maybe there’s like a magical hotspot on each continent that the magic is trapped in?”</p><p>“I guess that’s possible, but it’d have to be <em>really</em> isolated,” Chloe conceded. “Reeeaalllyy isolated.” The silence returned as they continued working on the poster. “Is it true that you have a tattoo?”</p><p>Dipper instinctively grabbed his left shoulder where the tattoo was located. It was a simple design, just his pine tree symbol. “… maybe”</p><p>“Your sister has one, I saw it in the changing rooms. Pretty sure having one at our age is illegal.”“When the cops aren’t around, anything’s legal.”</p><p>“Words to live by.” Chloe pushed her hair from her face and then asked, “what does it look like?”</p><p>“Ehhhhh… it’s… just a… just a pine tree.” He quickly drew the symbol on his hand and held it up.</p><p>“Because you’re a Pines?”</p><p>“… yeah. Let’s go with that,” he whispered the last part then tapped Chloe on the shoulder. “How about a joke? My ex-wife still misses me, but her aim is getting better!”</p><p>Chloe chuckled. “That’s funny,” she said.</p><p>“Alright everyone, pack up,” the teacher shouted.</p><p>“Well, we gotta work on this tomorrow. See you then?”</p><p>Dipper smiled. “Yeah,” he said. Chloe turned around and walked off. <em>Wow,</em> he thought.<em> She’s… really nice.</em> He was surprised that it had went so well, the only other time he’d succeeded in picking up girls was on the road trip.</p><p>“Oooooohhhh!” Mabel suddenly appeared behind Dipper, startling him. “Somebody’s in—” she wrapped her arm around his shoulder—“love!”</p><p>“Ugh,” Dipper said as he pushed her arm away. “I only just met her Mabel. I mean she’s nice, but… look, relationships really aren’t on my mind right now. I have bigger things to deal with.”</p><p>“Maybe this is what you need then,” Mabel smiled.</p><hr/><p>Bob walked into the living room and turned on the TV. He sighed as he turned it on, then his expression darkened.</p><p>“Kids, pack your bags,” he said. “You’re leaving.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The One Where Mabel is Fine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mabel is completely fine for a day, no sibling feels or conflicts start brewing and nothing terrible happens in Gravity Falls! *cries in author*</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Feel free to look up what the names ‘Draco’ and ‘Brantley’ mean (yes that was deliberate). Also, that chapter title is a Friends reference. One last thing, I’m working on an Apprentice!Dipper story, so progress on this might be slowing down a tad.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elsa Davian-Hanaway was not a contentious woman. She preferred to stay in the shadows, working towards her goals unnoticed. She was the type of person that melted into the background, the kind that people never suspected. Now, if that quick little description told you that she was the puppet master type, you’d be mistaken. In truth, she was a bad guy. Kind of. She didn’t want to be the bad guy, she didn’t want to be the villain that gets what they deserve at the end of the movie. She wanted out, there was no denying that, but she had brought this upon herself. <em>I’m the bad guy</em>was a thought that rattled through her brain as she rounded the corner. It was a though she tried to ignore but no no avail. She was fifty-two but you’d be mistaken for thinking she was in her forties; her greying hair had been dyed back to it’s natural brown and her thin face showed no signs of age. She made an effort to keep fit, as it was highly beneficial for a woman in her profession. She had defined cheekbones and a strong chin, her blue eyes glinting in the light as her target walked closer.</p><p>Discreetly, she pulled her pistol out from her coat and aimed it at the man, before plugging three rounds onto him. He grunted and made a rasping sound as he fell to his knees, his briefcase clattering to the floor. Elsa bit her lip as she leaned down to prevent him from collapsing and pulled the trigger twice more.</p><p>‘Skkkk! Skkkk!’ went the gun, the silencer suppressing the noise. Elsa felt the man go still. She let go of his and holstered the gun as he collapsed onto the floor. She quickly picked up the case and walked off, bowing her head.</p><p>This was it.</p><p>This was her way out.</p>
<hr/><p>The first few weeks back in Gravity Falls had been hard. Whilst Mabel had kept worrying that California was going to get bombed, Dipper had been worried about other things. Namely: why? Why would Germany or Russia (it didn’t matter really) attack intelligence agencies all across the globe? It didn’t make sense, there was no reason or logic behind the move. This was the question that Dipper rolled around in his head as he walked out of the Gravity Falls high school. Mabel was chattering on about something and he was pretending to listen. School was so much different in the Falls. The way it worked was that kids from all over Oregon came but most didn’t live in the Falls. He remembered back to when Wendy told him that all the friend groups had been shuffled around because the vast majority of people didn’t know what happened. What had surprised him the most however, was the people. Everyone respected the members of the zodiac (even Gideon to an extent) but the twins more than anyone. Even the people that didn’t know why. He had friends now: Wendy and co, Pacifica and Gideon oddly enough (who was very easy to talk to about Bill and being tortured by him as he, Dipper and Ford were the only ones to go through it. He’d been keeping his distance from Mabel however).</p><p>As the twins were walking down Main Street, they saw a house surrounded by police tape that read ‘crime scene: do not cross.’ Mabel frowned as Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland walked out.</p><p>“Hey!” Blubs shouted. “Could you come ‘ere for a minute?”</p><p>“Woo-wee!” squealed Durland. “We’re getting’ ‘ta meet the town heroes! Can I have ‘yer autograph!”</p><p>“Maybe later,” Mabel answered.</p><p>Dipper asked, “what do you need us for?”</p><p>“See for yourselves.” Blubs beckoned them into the building.</p><p>“Sweet sally, it smells like Dipper’s old laundry in here.”</p><p>“Mabel.” Dipper gave his sister a stern look. “Who’s house is this?”</p><p>“Tad Strange’s,” Durland replied.</p><p>That was when Dipper noticed the corpse lying on the floor. Tad’s eye sockets were empty, surrounded by a ring of dust. His body was caked in blood, his shirt torn and stained.</p><p>“Ugh.” Mabel held her nose.</p><p>“We need ya’ll to figure out who killed him,” Blubs said. “We think it was of supernatural causes.”</p><p>“Dipper, don’t you see?” Mabel pulled Dipper close. “This is like with Wax Stan! What if we’re reliving our fir – oh.”</p><p>“That wouldn’t be a good thing Mabel. Remember B—”</p><p>“NEVER MIND ALL THAT!”</p>
<hr/><p>Stan and Ford walked into the mayor’s office with a quick pace. Stan was wearing his ‘Mr Mystery Senior’ outfit, which consisted of a black double-breasted suit with grey pinstripes and a burgundy necktie. Ford was dressed in his usual attire, minus the belt. Mayor Tyler was sitting at his desk with his trademark smile plastered across his face when the Stan twins each took a seat. The supernatural ambassador was standing next to the mayor in a formal system with his arms behind his back.</p><p>“You wanted to talk to us?” Stan inquired.</p><p>Tyler replied, “yes, this is Mr Draco Brantley, you’ve already been introduced.”</p><p>“Never caught his name,” Ford chuckled.</p><p>“Mr Brantley, if you would inform the Mr Pineses of the situation please.”</p><p>Brantley pulled what looked to be a TV remote out of his jacket and pressed a button. A projector overhead whirred to life and a map of America appeared on the wall. It zoomed in on an airport, before cutting to security footage and zooming in one last time on a man with shoulder length brown hair and wearing a pair  of aviator sunglasses. A profile appeared next to him that read ‘Anton Ivanov.’</p><p>“Who is he?” Stan asked.</p><p>“He’s dead.” The word ‘deceased’ appeared over his image. “As of 2006. This footage was taken two weeks ago. He was a CIA agent, under a false identity. He was also seen leaving Langley Brimstone minutes before the bombs went off.”</p><p>Ford stood up and pointed at the Russian’s hand. “What’s that?”</p><p>“It’s a ring.”</p><p>“I know that. There’s a symbol on it.”</p><p>“Ah, yes,” Brantley smiled. “We’ve never seen it before.”</p><p>Mayor Tyler then said, “we think he’s part of a shadow organisation that knows of the supernatural.”</p><p>“Let me guess,” Stan said as Ford sat down. “You want us to find ‘im.”</p><p>“We also need your help in solvin’ the murder of Tad Strange. In fact, Dipper and Mabel are looking into it right now.”</p><p>“You want us to split up?” Ford asked.</p><p>“That’d be grand.” Tyler said. “Not ideal mind you, but grand.”</p><p>Stan smiled. “We’ll think about it.”</p>
<hr/><p>Wendy licked her finger and flipped a page on her magazine as both sets of twins debated what to do. Personally, she wanted to stay. Soos and Melody needed her help and she wasn’t all that interested in going to Russia. There was also something in the back of her mind that nagged at her, told her that she needed to be here. She brushed it aside.</p><p>“So it’s settled then,” Ford said. “Dipper will come to the Soviet Union with me and we’ll find some others to come too. The rest of you stay here and solve the murder.</p><p>“It’s not the Soviet Union anymore Sixer.”</p><p>“I’ll call Fiddleford,” Ford ignored his brother.</p><p>Dipper said, “I can ask Soos,” as he walked out.</p>
<hr/><p>Elsa walked up to the familiar door and chapped on it. Two Brock – Lesnar looking men walked out dressed in black suits and ties. They patted her down, removing her gun and a few daggers from her coat. She walked into the room and looked around. The walls were painted white and the floors were wooded. A hardwood desk sat in the centre of the room with nothing on it but a few pens and a book. The man sitting behind it wore a silver suit jacket with a black shirt and no tie. His face was obscured in shadow, but a glare of light reflected off of his reading glasses. Gently, he pulled them off and dropped them into a pocket on the inside of his coat. Elsa placed the briefcase on the dest and stood back.</p><p>The man unlocked the clasps and took a quick glance inside, before shutting it and handing it to a henchman. “All is forgiven,” he said in a deep and posh British accent.</p><p>“What do you need the device for?” Elsa asked, referring to the contents of the case. She spoke in her own sharp English accent, rarely stumbling over her words and using strong enunciation.</p><p>“That is of no concern to you, my love.”</p><p>“You don’t love me.”</p><p>“I married you, didn’t I?”</p><p>Elsa scowled as she walked out of the room.<em> This is the only way,</em> she told herself.</p>
<hr/><p>Dipper was pottering around the Mystery Shack about two hours after he’d agreed to go on the trip. He was in the attic packing when his phone rang. He picked it up after the thirty ring and said, “hi Mum.”</p><p>“Hello Dipper,” Helen’s voice had an audible smile. “How are you?”</p><p>“Pretty good. Oh! You’ll never believe this but—”</p><p>“Dipper, honey, I think I’ll believe anything at this point.”</p><p>“Oh. It’s not even that crazy. Someone got murdered!”</p><p>“Well this has gotten very morbid, who was it?”</p><p>“Tad Strange,” Dipper said as he hung off of his bed upside down. “We were asked to investigate it too!”</p><p>“Those police officers are hopeless, aren’t they?”</p><p>“Well, I’m not going to. Mabel is. <em>I’m</em> going to Russia!”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Secret cult type of deal. We think they started the war.” He rubbed his temples as he got up, holding the phone in his shoulder.</p><p>“Well, I hope that goes well. Could you pass me over to Mabel please?”</p><p>“Yeah, sure,” Dipper replied. “Mabel, Mum wants to talk to you! Mabel?” He looked around in confusion. “Just a sec. Grunkle Stan, where’s Mabel?”</p><p>Stan shouted from the kitchen, “she went to a friend’s house. Cain-y and Grend-o or somepin’ like that.”</p><p>“She’s at a friend’s house,” he said into the phone.</p><p>“Oh, okay. I actually have to go, so tell her I’ll call her later.”</p><p>“‘Kay.”</p><p>“Bye.”</p>
<hr/><p>Mabel was in sweater town, barely aware of Candy and Grenda hugging her. Dipper was getting to do cool spy stuff whilst she stayed here. She didn’t even want to go to Russia, she wanted to stay in the Falls. But what bothered her was that her and Dipper had never really been apart before. This was a big step forwards. Or backwards. She didn’t even know anymore. There had been a nagging feeling in the back of her mind after Dipper had gotten possessed. At he time where he was always on edge, talking to people even less than usual (he managed to go a whole week without speaking at all) and wandering around the Shack like a lost soul. No one had known what to say to him, but when he’d began to spend less time with her. They were closer after Gravity Falls, but they did more things separately. He was going to go to Russia, get himself hurt or worse and then take Ford’s apprenticeship. He’d already told her that he was going to take it after he’d finished high school, and she’d made her peace with that. But she didn’t want to be alone. After all, what was the point in doing anything without her twin by her side?</p>
<hr/><p>Ford and Dipper walked into the Argon’s cargo bay, where several people were milling about. Soos was chatting to Melody while unpacking, McGucket was unloading lots of gear, Stan was fiddling with some wires and Mabel was standing the middle of it all, looking out of place. Dipper was about to ask her what was wrong when Ford pulled a pair of sturdy-looking shoes out from his bag and handed them to him.<em> I can talk to Mabel in a minute,</em> he thought. “Why are you giving me a pair of shoes?”</p><p>Ford replied, “just put them on, I’ll show you in a minute.” He turned to see Wendy walking up the ramp.</p><p>“You wanted to talk to me Dr Pines?” she asked.</p><p>“Please, call me Ford,” he smiled and started rummaging around a large pile of weapons. “But yes, I did. Me and Fiddleford made you this.” He held up a matt-black shotgun with an axe head under the barrel. “You like it?” he asked, puzzled by Wendy’s eyes widening to the size of footballs.</p><p>“Yes,” she said matter-of-factly. “Yes I do.”</p><p>“It’s just like all the other laser guns, except shotgun style. And with an axe.” Ford handed the weapon to the still starstruck teen. “It’s okay to give teenagers weapons in this dimension right?” The twins said yes and Stanley said yes but they might be—”</p><p>“Yes. Definitely. Absolutely. What dimension do you think we live in, Pansy-69?” she chuckled, before thinking to herself, <em>it’s funny because it’s true.</em></p><p>“What’s so funny about that number?”</p><p>“Ask Dipper.”</p><p>“Grunkle Ford… what do these do again?” Dipper asked, appearing behind the old scientist.</p><p>“Do your best impression of a German aristocrat’s formal greeting.”</p><p>Dipper hesitated for a moment, before pointing his right arm up at an angle and placing his left index finger over his top lip.</p><p>“No, Dipper,” Ford sighed as Wendy cackled in the background. He stood up to his full height (which was a tad less than when the two had first met) and smacked his heels together, causing a small silver blade to appear out of his left foot.</p><p>“Whoa!” Dipper said astonishment, before copying his uncle. “How do I get it back in?”</p><p>“Well, it’s coated with one of the fastest acting sedative’s on the planet, so <em>very</em> carefully.” Ford pushed his foot against the wall and the knife slid back in. “I was going to use a neurotoxin, but I decided on the less… lethal solution.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dipper mumbled, remembering the last (and only) time he had killed someone. “Thanks.” He looked over his shoulder as he walked towards Mabel.</p><p>“Are you alright?” He asked.</p><p>Mabel quickly plastered on a fake smile and said, “yeah, I’m fine.”</p><p>“You don’t look it. You look like you want to die.”</p><p>“Don’t be silly,” Mabel gave her brother a playful shove. “I’m fine!”</p><p>“Is this because you don’t want me to go?”</p><p>“I already told you Dippin-dot.” She leaned in closer. “I’m fine!”</p><p>“… okay, call me whenever you want to talk about what’s bothering you. As long as we’re not on a mission, I’ll pick up. If we have nightmares we call each other, okay?”</p><p>Mabel nodded. “When do you have to go?”</p><p>“Now actually.” Dipper quickly wrapped her in an – admittedly unexpected but rather nice – sibling hug.</p><p>“I’ll miss you Mason.”</p><p>“Well, now you ruined it.” Dipper looked at the expression on his sister’s face. “I’m just kidding. But don’t call me that. I’ll miss you too.”</p>
<hr/><p>Elsa lay in her luxurious bed thinking. Muffled screams could be heard echoing through the base’s halls as she tried and failed to get some sleep. She’d always been a night-owl. Her horrid husband lay next to her, facing away. He was out like a log. <em>You could just kill him here and now and be done with it,</em> she thought, before berating herself, <em>don’t. It won’t change anything. Getting that case was step one, you’re playing the long game here.</em> She needed to find out more about his plans. She knew full well what was in that case, but not what he would use it for. She <em>hated</em> him. She hated him so, so much. She hated this secret lair, she hated the whole operation. But more than anything else, she hated herself for marrying him.</p>
<hr/><p>“So how do we find ‘im?” McGucket asked as he paced around the room.</p><p>“We know he’s going to check into the Pentahotel tonight and that he’s arriving through the Pushkin International airport,” Ford explained. “We need to intercept him.”</p><p>“I have an idea.” Soos said. “And it definitely isn’t from an anime.”</p>
<hr/><p>Ford stood in the Pushkin international airport tapping his foot. He held up a sign that read ‘Anton Ivanov’ and was dressed in a formal outfit. Soos’ plan was… risky, to say the least and that was being kind. He pondered the notion for a a few moments before Ivanov approached him.</p><p>“Dipper, Ford’s got him,” Soos said over the radio after seeing through Ford’s glasses.</p><p>McGucket then added, “about fifteen minutes ‘ta door knock.”</p><p>Ford led his target into his stolen cab and pressed on the accelerator, causing the car to start moving. They driver through Moscow for a few minutes, before arriving at the hotel.</p><p>“Five minutes to door knock,” McGucket said.</p><p>“Thank you.” Dipper’s sarcasm was audible as he steadied himself.</p><p>“Спасибо,” Ivanov said.</p><p>The words ‘thank you’ appeared on Ford’s glasses. He nodded and smiled.</p><p>McGucket glanced back the laptop. “3 minutes to door knock.”</p><p>“That’s very helpful Fiddleford.”</p><p>“Two – no, one – he’s right outside. Get ready.”</p><p>Dipper was standing around the corner when he heard the door open, the shut a few seconds later. He quickly leapt out and struck the Russian in the face with his cybernetic hand, who helped in surprise (and pain). Without missing a beat, he clicked his heels together and made a small incision on Ivanov’s arm, who slowly began to turn blue before passing out. The blue hue drained from his skin soon after. “I got him,” Dipper said into his earpiece.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you haven’t already figured it out, it’s not a literal hive mind. It is one in a sense that they have people everywhere that all believe in a common goal, hence why Mr X (Elsa’s husband) named his organisation ‘HIVE.’ Also, who killed Tad Strange?</p><p>-Lw zdv Jlghrq Johhixo lq wkh Olylqj Urrp zlwk wkh Dpxohw</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Smoke and Mirrors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mabel and Wendy search to find the killer.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“HEY SHOOTING STAR!” Bill shouted. He would have been smiling if he had a mouth. He snapped his fingers and Dipper floated up into the air as Mabel watched in horror. He grabbed Dipper’s body with one hand, his head with the other and began pull. Dipper screamed in agony as his head was ripped from his body.</p><p>Mabel yelled, “no!” as Bill pulled her over to him and chopped her right hand off.</p><p>He pulled Dipper’s off too and said, “LOOKS LIKE YOU FINALLY GAVE YOUR BROTHER A HAND! NOW YOU CAN BE TWINS AGAIN! THAT WAS YOUR FAULT, YA’ KNOW?” Then he looked at Dipper’s decapitated corpse and eye narrowed. His right index finger transformed into a black blade as he chopped Mabel’s head off. “GOOD LUCK SLEEPIN’ TONIGHT!”</p><p>Stan watched Mabel scream in terror as she slept. He’d heard it from his room and had come to check on her. He shook her gently, before she shot up (nearly hitting him in the face).</p><p>“Mabel, sweetie,” he said calmly. “You okay pumpkin?”</p><p>Mabel shook her head. “He killed Dipper…” she mumbled as she gripped her blanket tightly.</p><p>Stan didn’t need to be told who ‘he’ was. He knew. “Dipper’s fine. He’s a tough cookie, if you get what I mean. An’ he’s with Stanford. Your brother will be fine, he’s not dying any time soon, okay?”</p><p>“Hmkay.” Mabel said. “I wish he could be here. I wish he didn’t have to go!”</p><p>“He’ll be missin’ you too sweetie,” Stan smiled.</p><p>“… I know.”</p><p>Wendy was standing outside of the crime scene when Stan and Mabel approached. “Hey dudes.” She waved hello to them.</p><p>“Hey Wendy!” Mabel was clearly back to her usual, optimistic self. “You ready to investigate the house? It’s gonna be <em>so </em>fun! I invited Candy and Grenda along to make it a girls and…” she looked at Stan. “A Grunkle and girls adventure bonanza!”</p><p>“Yep.” Wendy sipped her Pitt Cola as she talked. “So when are they—”</p><p>“HELLO!” Grenda yelled as she ran down the street.</p><p>“Ahh!” Wendy screamed. “Jesus man, you scared the life outta me.”</p><p>“Candy falls down now,” Candy said as she fell off of the roof into a bush. “With the benefit of hindsight, I say that that was not a good idea.”</p><p>“How’d you even get up there anyway?” asked Stan.</p><p>“I could tell you. But the last person I did tell regretted it.”</p><p>“… never mind.”</p><p>“Alright party people, let’s go!” Mabel smiled as they walked up to the door.</p><p>“Wait!” Candy said. “Look, footprints in the snow!” It was true.</p><p>“Wait a second…” Stan rubbed his chin. “Back when Gideon was trying to steal the Shack, I figured out what the sole of his shoes looked like so I could use it as evidence. That’s the same print.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” Wendy asked. “Didn’t he turn good?”</p><p>“I’m sure. I knew he was playing us!”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Mabel said, her ever-trusting nature coming through as she crossed her arms. “Grenda, Candy, what do you think?”</p><p>“MR PINES IS RIGHT. I THINK.”</p><p>Candy pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure. Maybe we should talk to him before running in there with no evidence.”</p><p>“I agree with Candy,” Wendy nodded. “Tell you what, I’ll take her to Gideon’s house and the rest of you keep looking. Got that?”</p><p>Mabel bowed her head as she bit her nails. “Okay,” she mumbled. She was still bitter about her brother and former nemesis, mainly because Dipper never talked to her about torture at the hands of Bill. He’d said that she’d ‘never understand.’ But the worst part was she knew he was right. She got nightmares occasionally but Dipper had them every night. He’d been affected much worse than she had (as was the case with Ford and Stan) and had never once told her what living in Weirdmageddon was like. He hadn’t talked to anyone about it. Ford had suspected that he’d blocked the memories out of his mind, but Dipper had denied it, saying that what he saw had been burned into his mind. “We’ll keep looking.” Mabel said.</p><hr/><p>Wendy chapped on the Gideon’s door with a sour expression on her face. Candy was standing next to her and both Blubs and Durland we’re behind her.</p><p>Bud Gleeful opened the door with his familiar smile plastered across his face. “Why, Miss Corduroy! You’re a friend ‘o those there Pines, ain’t’cha?” He then looked at Candy. “And who might you be?”</p><p>“Candy Chui. I’m a friend of Mabel’s.”</p><p>“Ahhhhh. Well, I see two police officers here so I assume you’re here to ask one of us some questions. Li’l Gideon, perhaps?”</p><p>Wendy raised her eyebrows in surprise. Bud was smarter than he seemed. Maybe that’s where Gideon got it from. “Yes actua—”</p><p>Blubs and Durland quickly pushed by her and rushed into the house.</p><p>“Wait!” Candy shouted as she ran into the front room to see Gideon once agin in handcuffs.</p><p>“Leggo of me!” he shouted desperately. “I haven’t done nothin’ wrong!”</p><p>“Well that’s a double negative, which tells me that you <em>did</em> do something wrong,” Wendy smirked as she walked in.</p><p>“I know that!” Gideon’s lip quivered. “Look,” he sighed, composing himself. “I deserved it last time, I made my peace wi’ that. But I swear, I haven’t done anything wrong.”</p><p>“Well we’re gonna have ‘ta take you in for questionin’ anyway,” Blubs said.</p><p>Bud looked on and asked, “what’s goin’ on here? I don’t understand.”</p><p>“A footprint was found in the snow outside Tad Strange’s house that matches Gideon’s,” Candy said.</p><p>“Gideon.” Bud looked at his son sternly. “What did you do?”</p><p>“I didn’t do any’pin!”</p><p>“We think he killed Tad Strange!” Durland stated bluntly.</p><p>Wendy sighed and rubbed her temples.</p><hr/><p>Mabel held the phone up to her ear and chewed on her nail as she listened to the sound of it ringing.</p><p>“Hello?” Dipper’s voice was weary and croaking, it was clearly night where he was.</p><p>“Hi Dipstick.”</p><p>“I just got to sleep, why are you calling?”</p><p>“… I had a nightmare.”</p><p>“Aw,” Dipper mumbled. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Why do you keep saying ‘I’m sorry’ to things that aren’t your fault?”</p><p>“What?” Dipper stalled as he processed the question. “Oh, it’s just a reaction.” He was silent for a few moments, before he said, “what was it?”</p><p>“Bi – <em>he</em> came back. He came back and he killed you and said it was my fault then he killed me!”</p><p>“<em>He’s</em> dead,” Dipper told his sister. “Remember that. Keep telling that to yourself.”</p><p>“I try but it’s just not working!” Mabel screamed, a lone tear running down her face. “I don’t know why I’m moaning. You have it so much worse. Are you okay? Did you have any nightmares?” She knew Dipper denied that he had it worse, but it was true. He knew that. Deep down.</p><p>“… no,” Dipper lied.</p><p>“Call me if you do okay? Or even if you didn’t… I’ve been missing you.”</p><p>Dipper sighed. “I miss you too.”</p><p>That was the last thing he said before he hung up. Mabel rolled the cord around in her fingers absentmindedly for a few moments, before walking over to Stan’s dusty old recliner and sitting down. “Maybe there’s something on TV that can cheer me up,” she muttered as she turned it on.</p><p>“Gravity Falls is buzzing today.” Shandra Jimenez said as she held her script. “In the first actual news report since the declaration of World War Three, Tad Strange has bee found dead in his house. Viewer discretion is advised as these images disturb some of you wimps.” A few images of Tad’s dead body appeared in the background. “The police force have apprehended their primary suspect Gideon Gleeful – local town criminal and former conman – due to footprints matchin’ his shoes being found at the scene of the crime. Police officers Daryl Blubs and Edwin Durland have also found a set of fingerprints on the door handle that match Mr Gleeful’s.”</p><p>Mabel sighed. The evidence added up, but she didn’t believe it for some reason.</p><p>Now she had to figure out why.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Obviously it wasn’t actually Gideon. He’s good now and it would be boring if we found the killer that easily. He’s being framed, but by whom? And how will the Pines find out? Next chapter is focusing back on Dipper and Ford and it’s an interesting one too. I kinda got writer’s block on this one because the later part of this plot line is much more interesting. I might take a break after this so I can have a few chapters written at any one time (to reduce stress and all that shite).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. From Russia With Shove</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ford takes the war back to the HIVE in a shocking cliffhanger.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ivanov creaked his eyes open slowly. His eyelids felt like cement. He was sitting in what looked to be an abandoned part of the Moscow underground. He soon saw the boy sitting in front of him. The boy was wearing a long black coat over a navy sweater, and had the beginnings of a cleft on his chin that sat slightly to the right of a scar. He wore a belt across his chest and had chocolate brown hair that matched his bright brown eyes. Then he spoke.</p><p>“Anton Ivanov,” he said. “I’d say you’re a hard man to find, but that’s not true at all.” The boy leaned forward and smiled. “We are looking for an organisation that we believe you are a part of.”</p><p>“And if I was part of a ‘secret organisation,’ I wouldn’t tell you about it. Unless you have a rather large…” Ivanov’s heavy Russian accent echoed through the hall. “… pocketbook.”</p><p>“Well if we’re going to do this the hard way,” the boy smiled. “I’m gonna need a cup of coffee.” He walked out of the room and shut the door.</p><p>The sound of him locking it echoed on the walls.</p><p>Ivanov smiled.<em> Good cop, bad cop.</em> He thought to himself as the lights flickered to life. <em>So that’s how it’s gonna—</em> his head smashed against the table with a resounding thud—“ow, augh… ow.”</p><p>“You’re going to tell us who you work for,” the man said. He had a slight Jersey twang to his accent, Ivanov noted.</p><p>“Alright, alright.” Anton clutched his throbbing nose. “Jesus wept…”</p><hr/><p>Dipper hooked his fingers around the handle of his mug and slowly lifted it up to his mouth. He took a sip, then promptly started gagging when the caffeine burned his tongue.</p><p>“It’s called the HIVE mind,” Ford said as a projection of a building appeared on the monitor behind him.</p><p>“Maybe it’s called that because it has people everywhere,” Soos added. “Like in all my favourite anime’s!” He leaned over to Dipper and whispered, “and my fanfics.”</p><p>“Lemme’ guess,” McGucket adjusted his glasses. “We need to infiltrate it.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“So do we just go in a window or something?” asked Dipper.</p><p>“All windows are just for show and are actually sealed off. As are the water mains and electrical system.”</p><p>“What’s the security like?”</p><p>“Fingerprint scanner to enter the elevator, three combination locks, a retinal scan and a facial scan.”</p><p>“Facial scan…” McGucket muttered. “For that they’d need profiles. Where are they stored?”</p><p>“Are profiles are stored in here, the spire.”</p><p>“So,” Dipper smiled. “One of us needs to infiltrate the building whilst the other changes Ivanov’s profile to our own?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“I can get the Russian guy’s fingerprints for ‘ya ‘ta wear!”</p><p>“Good idea Fiddleford. He can also tell us the combinations.”</p><hr/><p>The Kremlin was a majestic building, its towers framing the sky like drawn curtains. Many people – both tourists and locals – walked around the plaza, chatting and taking photos. Elsa walked in the opposite direction to the crowd, people continually bumping into her. As the people began to disperse, she spotted Banks sitting on a bench. He was a man in his early sixties, his grey hair styled in an absolutely egregious combover. His circular glasses framed his blue eyes, which were surrounded by wrinkles. Elsa bit her lip as she leaned down and placed her handbag on the bench, then sat down.</p><p>“Hello Elsa,” Banks said, his voice deep and posh. “Was your last mission a success?”</p><p>“It took you long enough,” Elsa grumbled, looking away. “It’s been two months since then.”</p><p>“Well I’m sorry, but it’s rather difficult to set up a meeting with the wife of a crime lord gone mad.”</p><p>“I got him the case.”</p><p>Banks smiled, adjusting his glasses. “Good, good,” he purred.</p><p>“Why are you helping me?” Elsa said suddenly.</p><p>Banks turned to look at her for the first time, the breeze disturbing his combover. “We have a deal, remember? You help me take down HIVE and in return you go free.”</p><p>“No, I just want to know why you’re helping me,” Elsa probed, still refusing to make eye contact. “Who are you working for?”</p><p>“My boss is a very…” he searched for the right word. “Well off woman. A woman who wants to do something good for the world. All your questions will be answered, I promise. And now that your husband has the case, he has unknowingly put our plan into motion.” Banks smiled at Elsa. “You’re doing a good thing, trust me.”</p><p>“I know that…” Elsa said. “I just…”</p><p>“Just what? Come out with it dear, <em>I’d</em> never tell. Not like that crooked husband of yours. <em>I’d</em> never do that.”</p><p>“… I just don’t know whether I can trust you,” Elsa admitted as she crossed her arms.</p><p>Banks’ smile softened slightly. “Oh, Elsa.” He leaned in close to her. “Of course you can trust <em>me.</em>”</p><p>Elsa pursed her lips, grabbing her bag and getting up. “I hope you’re right.”</p><p>As she walked away, Banks smiled to himself. Elsa was out of earshot. “Of course I am,” he grinned. “<em>I</em> always am.”</p><hr/><p>Dipper aimed the harpoon gun at the spire and closed one eye as he lined up his shot. There were people milling about in the streets below, despite it being close to midnight. He was on the roof of a building, looking through the sights as the crosshairs lined up with his target.</p><p>He squeezed the trigger.</p><p>The harpoon shot out and the gun shot back, hitting him in the face. “Ow,” he mumbled as he felt at his nose. He pulled his hand away and saw a drop of blood on it. “Shit.” He rooted around in his pockets for a tissue, then promptly gave up. Of course he didn’t have a tissue on him. Sighing, he pulled the zip line device out of his pocket and attached it to the line of rope stretching from one building to the other. After making sure that the gun wouldn’t move, he attached the zip line to his belt and pressed the radio in his ear. “Soos, McGucket,” he said. “I’m ready when you are.”</p><p>“Just a sec dude,” Soos said.</p><p>“Good just – arrghh!” the brunet shouted as he slipped off the rooftop, certain he was going to die.</p><p>“Dipper! You okay dude?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dipper mumbled, his voice quivering. <em>Good job I attached the zip line,</em> he thought (as he was now hanging from a rope in between two ten-story buildings). “I’m okay.” He took a deep breath a started inching his way across the rope. <em>Come on Dipper, you can do this. Just don’t look down. Don’tlookdownDon’tlookdownDon’tlookdown – ILOOKEDDOWNWHY DIDILOOKDOWN?</em></p><p>“Alright,” Dipper sighed, setting up his laptop and plugging it into the central control unit.</p><p>“I’m in.”</p><p>“Going to radio silence… now,” McGucket said, the line going dead.</p><hr/><p>Ford walked through the door to the base and pressed his thumb onto the scanner, promptly pulling the fake print off and dropping it into his pocket. He walked through the three glass door, putting the respective passcode in each.</p><hr/><p>Dipper readied the fake profile, took a deep breath, and switched it with Ivanov’s as fast as he possibly could. He glanced at his laptop, seeing the green dot representing Ford walk past the final door and into meeting room.</p><p>Little did he know, this was just the calm before the storm.</p><hr/><p>Ford pushed through the crowd of people, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and white shirts. The meeting room had a large, rectangular table in the middle. Each seat was occupied by men and women with golden pins on their lapels. There was a large balcony circling the hall, on which Ford was stood on.</p><p>“Enhance,” Ford whispered after tapping his glasses. The image zoomed in, revealing the pin to be a circle with two tadpole-shaped blobs flying round it. Ivanov’s ring had the same design. The lens zoomed back out, only to zoom back in again as a door to the left opened and two people walked out; a tall, brown haired woman and a man of similar height in a grey suit. He wore a burgundy tie, and his receding hair was a grey-ish white. Ford couldn’t quite make out his face, but he could see the woman’s. The glasses took a picture for later use. Ford pressed the button on his earpiece and began to listen in on the meeting.</p><p>“I have been informed that Mr Anton Ivanov has been captured.” The supposed leader said, sat at the head of the table. “Is this true, Antanoly?”</p><p>The man called Antanoly widened his eyes and began stammering, “Well, uh, he’s just gone—”</p><p>“You were not summoned here to grovel,” the leader snapped. “We have many enemies, one may have taken him hostage to gain information. In fact, they could even use him to infiltrate out operation. That would be unfortunate,” the leader looked up to the balcony, right at Ford.</p><p>“Right, Stanford?”</p><p>It was then that Dipper decided to break the radio silence. “Abort,” he said quickly.</p><p>Ford’s brain suddenly caught up to his situation, immediately telling him to leg it. And that he did, the leader’s shout of, ‘seize him,’ echoing through the halls.</p><hr/><p>Ford burst through the double doors at the front of the cathedral immediately running over to a motorcycle. He fiddled with the wires until it started up, then jumped on and sped away. A fleet of cars followed suit; their guns aimed for the cycle’s tires rather than his face. Ford was racking his brain for who the leader was, he recognised the voice but couldn’t quite place it. He looked back, he’d lost the cars a while ago (his time in the multiverse had given him much car chase experience, it was practically second nature to him now). But it was in vain, as another fleet of cars rounded the corner, these with blue flashing lights. Someone had called the police. He twisted the handle and sped off, eventually ending up surrounded.</p><p>Knowing that his luck had run out, Ford raised his hands in the air and got off the bike.</p><p>
  <a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/14184116/Theory-of-Weirdness">Theory of Weirdness</a>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... it’s been a hot minute since I updated this story. Basically, I got tired of it and started on other projects. But now that The Neophyte series is on hiatus, I’m finally getting the chance to continue. I won’t make any promises on when the next update will be, as this is the first time I’ve updated in over a month. I was actually inspired to get this chapter done by another writer known as Theory of Weirdness, who’s Fanfiction.net profile will be linked above.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Wake up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>New players are introduced when Mabel returns to the scene of the crime.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>July 7<sup>th</sup>, 2004</p><p>
  <em>Waves crashed down on the hot Australian sand like mallets, spraying the small sandcastle nearby with water.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No!” a small girl shouted, running over to the fort. “My castle!” She desperately clawed at the melting sand, but to no avail. The castle had fallen, it’s supports destroyed. The girls lip quivered, before she began to cry.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Muuuum!” she shouted, her short ginger pigtails waving in the breeze. “The waves killed my castle!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Not too far away, another woman looked up from her sunbathing chair and squinted. The large beach hat on her head did nothing to hide the sun, so she quickly grabbed a pair of sunglasses and ran over to her daughter.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Sweetie?” She asked. “What’s wrong?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“My castle!” the girl wailed. ‘The waves killed my castle!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh no!” the mother said in fake surprise. “Tell you what, I’ll help you build another one. How does that sound?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The girl immediately perked up, the sadness of losing her castle gone. “YEAH!” she shouted, making her mother wince. “Come on!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Okay,” the mother laughed. “Just hold on a minute, I’ll go get the shovel.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“OKAY!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ll be back in a minute Wendy.”</em>
</p><hr/><p>The HIVE base was silent. You could hear a pin drop miles away, although that is achieved largely because of the echo, which was quite substantial given the amount of enormous rooms the building boasted. It was an old cathedral, and a big one at that. The money to buy it had been loaned from an anonymous benefactor whose identity was know only to their leader.</p><p>Elsa stood quietly in the elevator, beside her a tall man with black, styled hair. He wore a brown hunting jacket and navy jeans, his grey t-shirt tucked into them. His jaw was covered in thin black stubble that showed no signs of age, his dark brown eyes brighter than ever. Elsa herself was wearing the same black gown she’d had on during the board meeting, considering that that was only a few hours ago. She grimaced and hit the button for the top floor. Some old-times elevator music started playing as the car made it’s way up. Elsa shuddered, able to hear the sounds of the elevator creaking over the loud silence.</p><p>Speaking of silences, this was one of the most awkward she had experienced in her life, and that was saying something. She glanced at the lift’s other occupant. She knew him well. His name was Viggo… something. She’d never been able to remember his second name, and had given up trying long ago. Brian? No, that couldn’t be it. <em>Viggo Brian,</em> she thought. <em>Sounds like the worst James Bond Villain ever.</em> The name Brian was definitely off the table, it could be Barstow, but at this point she wasn’t sure. Viggo had been in HIVE for a long time, enough to gain a sizeable reputation. He’d been requested to become a council member once, but had declined, claiming that he was a field operative, not a bureaucrat.</p><p>His profile had detailed that he’d come from a broken home, literally. He’d burned the family house down one day after discovering that his parents had kept him in the dark about the supernatural world. The HIVE leaders had seen potential in him, deciding to break him out of prison so he could become an asset. The man had spent most of his life in a jail cell paying for his crimes, but HIVE had changed that. The doors opened into a familiar room, where two guards stood. They weren’t the same guards as last time, but they were just as big as their predecessors. As they began patting the two down, Viggo looked at Elsa and smirked.</p><p>“Look like he got a bit close for comfort,” he said as they made their way past the guards.</p><p>Elsa said nothing in response, merely sighing. She glanced at one of the guards, motioning for him to open the door for her. The guard caught on fairly quickly, grabbing the handle and doing as he was told. Elsa gave a quick look of gratitude, before walking into the penthouse. Viggo followed suit, immediately sobering up at the sight of his boss, who was standing at one of the huge windows lining the room. He faced away, the dim yellow light creating a rather unsavoury atmosphere.</p><p>The man turned around, his beady blue eyes drilling into his two accomplices. He had slightly tanned skin and a dark moustache, unlike his hair, which was a bright grey. He had a wide jaw and strong chin, with a pretty muscular build for someone of his age.</p><p>“Sir,” Viggo said, his once humorous tone now stern and serious.</p><p>Elsa, feeling no need for such formalities, addressed him far more casually. “Phil,” she spoke, her tone as unwavering as ever.</p><p>“The board is frustrated,” Phil said simply. “They think that Stanford’s sudden appearance is a major setback.”</p><p>Viggo, confused, asked, “How would it not be, Sir?” He bit his lip, before hastily adding, “Respectfully, sir.”</p><p>The mastermind behind the HIVE simply replied, “Because he will not live long enough to become one.”</p><p>Elsa frowned, this was new. “Are you suggesting that Viggo should take him out?”</p><p>“No, nothing so crude,” Phillip replied. “Stanford is in government custody and is quite a fighter, he is not the ideal target. The boy, on the other hand, well…”</p><p>“You want me to kill a child?” Viggo asked in disbelief. “I’m not doing that.”</p><p><em>That’s strange,</em> Elsa pondered. <em>Never really saw him as someone with a strong moral compass.</em></p><p>“No, bring him in. Then we can get information from him and use him as bait.”</p><p>“Davian,” Elsa responded, using her husband’s preferred name for the first time today. “He’s a child.”</p><p>Davian smirked, “Don’t underestimate him. Earlier today, I received a call from one of the safe houses. He was on the other end, demanding to know where his uncle was. He’s a fighter.”</p><p>Viggo sighed, “Very well, sir.” As he went to leave, Davian stopped him.</p><p>“Wait,” he said, coldly. “I hope I don’t have to remind you of the last time I sent you to cross off the Pines twins, do I? In Washington?”</p><p>Viggo grimaced, he’d been as opposed to killing them then as he was now. “No sir.”</p><p>Elsa watched as Viggo walked out of the room, then glanced back to her husband. “What should I do?” she asked.</p><p>“Reassure the board that everything will be alright.” Davian replied, already walking away. “I don’t want them turning on us.”</p><p>Elsa breathed a sigh of relief, happy she wasn’t getting sent to kill anyone this time. “Okay.”</p><hr/><p>The sound of Judge Jadon’s gavel slamming down onto his desk rang throughout the Gravity Falls courtroom, which was filled to the brim. It was a small town after all, and many people had been quite close to Tad Strange. They wanted to see the killer get brought to justice, which was great news for Stan, who was merchandise that had ‘Go away Gleeful!’ emblazoned onto it. T-shirts, pins, hats, phone cases, everything. If there was enough space on an object to have the slogan printed onto it, he was selling it.</p><p>Stan smirked, running his hands through the thick wad of cash he’d made.</p><p>“Four, five, six – HOLY HOT SAUCE!” he yelled. “Six hundred dollars in one day? My only dream, which was to possess money, has come true!”</p><p>“Don’t you think this is kinda scummy Mr Pines?” Wendy asked, looking up from her phone. “I mean, he helped save the town from Bill.”</p><p>Stan stared at his cashier in disbelief. “Your point being?”</p><p>“Did you listen to a word I said?”</p><p>“Listen Wendy,” Stan said. “Before all this I might’ve been able to see your point, but the kid’s a murderer. Also, six hundred bucks ain’t half bad.”</p><p>Wendy thought for a moment, before conceding. “True, true.” The two stood in silence for an awkward moment, before Wendy spoke again. “What if he didn’t do it?”</p><p>Stan’ face morphed into an expression of shock, before he burst out laughing. Once he was done, he noticed the expression of Wendy’s face. “You serious?”</p><p>‘Yeah,” the teen deadpanned. “He redeemed himself during Weirdmageddon, then suddenly becomes evil again. Also, he’s too smart to leave such obvious clues. Hell, we don’t even know how he did it.”</p><p>“Magic, Wendy.” Stan shoved the wad of cash into his pocket. “Also, the kid’s not as smart as he looks. Every single one of his schemes to steal the Shack failed.”</p><p>“You mean apart from the one that didn’t?”</p><p>“Shaddup!”</p><hr/><p>Mabel Pines was confused. This was a result of the fact that when it came to mysteries, she was never really the one to solve them. Usually that would be Dipper’s job, and she did all the punching. But Dipper wasn’t here right now. She had to be the brains. There was also the small fact that during the summer, they complimented each other well. They each had a thing they were good at when it came to mysteries, but now it was different. Dipper was the brains and the muscle, whilst she was only the muscle. Sure, he had an unfair advantage now, but still.</p><p>What if he didn’t need her anymore?</p><hr/><p>
  <em>“Wow!” Wendy’s mother said with a smirk on her face. “That’s a really cool castle, right?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“YEAH!” Wendy shouted. “It’s even better than the last one!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“JAAAAAANNNNNNE!” Manly Dan yelled. “Can you come here a minute?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Okay, just a sec!” Jane called back. “I won’t be long, okay?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Wendy smiled, “Okay.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jane jogged over to her husband, who was watching their three other kids. “What is it?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dan sighed, “We can’t stay at the hotel anymore.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jane’s eyebrows promptly because one with her hairline, her huge hat nearly falling off her head. “What? Why?”<br/></em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Apparently some huge bear rampaged through the place, it’s getting’ shut down for repairs.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jane looked at her husband in confusion. “A bear?” Dan nodded, seemingly sharing Jane’s disbelief. “But there’s nowhere else to stay.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dan’s eyes lit up, and he said, “We could use the camping equipment I brought.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jane nodded slowly, realising that they really didn’t have any other option. “Okay,” she pulled her sunglasses off and hung them off her collar. “I’ll go get our stuff from the hotel, you set up here.”</em>
</p><hr/><p>Mabel was determined. She was going to prove to Dipper that he needed her. Wendy had come to her with concerns that everything had been too easy, concerns that Mabel shared. She ducked under the police tape surrounding Tad’s house and ran through the door. The house looked exactly as it had the last time she’d been in it, which was to be expected.</p><p>“Let’s do this,” she mumbled.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>“Well this holiday is a bust,” Jane commented as rain poured down onto the family’s small tent. Lightning struck in the distance, failing to disturb her sleeping family. Why did it have to be so hard to get to sleep? There was no reason whys she—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jane’s motherly instincts immediately perked up when a loud bang shook the tent.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Something was coming.</em>
</p><hr/><p>Stan glanced down at his cards, then up at Wendy. She had a smug expression on her face, her lumberjack hat placed on the table next to her.</p><p>“I fold,” he said, placing his cards down on the table. “Looks like ‘ya finally got me.”</p><p>Wendy laughed, “Yeah, it only took me two hours.”</p><p>“GRUNKLE STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!”</p><p>Stan looked to the door in confusion. Mabel ran in, looking panicked and distressed.</p><p>“Mabel, what happened?” he asked.</p><p>“WellIwentbacktoTad’shouseandfoundsomebloodandItookittothepoliceandtheytesteditandit’sCorduroyblood!”</p><p>“What?” Wendy asked, shocked. “You found Corduroy blood there?’</p><p>“Maybe you were right Wendy…” Stan murmured. “Maybe it wasn’t Gideon.”</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Dan opened his eyes slowly. He quickly grabbed his phone and checked the time. Great, of course he woke up at two in the morning. But something was—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jane.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She was gone.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So we finally met our antagonists, and you don’t have to be a genius to figure out what really happened to Tad strange. Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. A Hen in the Wolf House</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>When Davian makes his play, the Pines are unable outmanoeuvre the master manipulator.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dipper’s footsteps echoed off the tall buildings surrounding him, the sunlight barely sneaking through the gaps. The star in question was low on the horizon, and plenty bright as well. When he’d gotten back from HIVE’s base, he had collapsed on his bed from exhaustion. When he’d come to, it was about eight in the morning, and considering that he’d only had about six hours of sleep, he was wrecked. His eyes were sunken, large black bags underneath them. His hair was unkempt, even more that usual. He grabbed the lapels of his trench coat and held them across his chest in an effort to keep warm, the navy sweater Mabel had knitted him doing precious little to conserve his body heat. As he rounded the corner, he began rubbing his hands together before blowing into them, repeating until the feeling in his left hand began to return. He sighed, not too fond of both his hands being completely numb. He had to deal with one every day of his life, but two was just too much.</p><p><em>Oh, give it a rest,</em> he thought. <em>You probably have it better than any other amputee on the planet.</em> Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.<em> Would I count as an amputee? I did grab that crystal on purpose, although – to be fair – I was expecting to die, not have Wendy chop my hand off.</em> He walked into the barbershop, the bell above the door ringing as he did.</p><p>One of the barbers – a portly man with thick glasses on – came up to the brunet and stopped him. “Кто ты?”</p><p>“Я Микки Маус, ты кто, черт возьми?” Dipper responded, speaking the password that Ivanov had given him (he hadn’t the slightest clue what it meant).</p><p>The barber’s eyes widened slightly in shock. He gently pulled a metal detector out of his desk drawer and motioned for Dipper to remove his weapons. After it was done, the detector was still bleeping.</p><p>“Oh,” Dipper realised, taking his hand off and placing it on the desk. The barber smiled and led Dipper to a room at the back, putting a key in the lock and pulling the door open. In the room sat a desk with an old-fashioned telephone, the number already dialled in. The door was quickly shut behind him as he grabbed the phone and held it up to his ear.</p><p>It rang for a few seconds, before the distinct sound of someone picking up rang through Dipper’s head. “Hello?” he said, his voice wavering slightly.</p><p>“Hello Dipper,” came the reply, the voice low and English. “Yes that’s right, I know who you are.”</p><p>“Wha – but… how?” Dipper stammered.</p><p>“How about I give you a tip, Pines?” the man sneered. “Assume I know everything. Like the fact that you’re currently calling from safe house that you got the location of through Anton Ivanov.”</p><p>Dipper grimaced, “You haven’t had enough time to trace this call.”</p><p>“No, but I do know that Mr Ivanov went missing two days ago, and that the barbershop safe house is the only one he knows the location of.”</p><p>Dipper steeled himself, he’d been caught off guard by the HIVE leader’s apparent clairvoyance and that wasn’t going to happen again. “Who are you and what did you do with my uncle?”</p><p>“I’m afraid I can’t answer that Dipper,” the man said slowly. “Because you can figure out who I am if you have my name through those fancy spy glasses of yours. Or is it spy contact lenses now?”</p><p>Dipper was in shock. How did this guy know so much? “Where is Grunkle Ford?” he asked aggressively. He’d never been a very patient boy, and this man was running what was left of it thin.</p><p>The leader replied, “I don’t know.”</p><p>“Don’t bullshit me. I know you took him.”</p><p>“All I know is that he was taken by the police to Blackgate prison,” the man said, helpfully. “Consider it a professional courtesy.” And with that, the line went dead.</p><hr/><p>Ford lay in his bed quietly. His bunk mate was a very large and intimidating man named Frank, who was clearly not Russian. Ford wasn’t quite sure what it was that Frank had done to get in here, and to be honest, he didn’t want to find out.</p><p>Hell, he didn’t even know why <em>he</em> was in here. The most he should’ve gotten was a speeding ticket, although it’s certainly possible that HIVE had enough sway in the Russian government to get him arrested. That was a disturbing thought. Any politician or political figure in generally could be in the leader’s pocket. He’d been racking his brain for who that man was, but he couldn’t for the life of him pin down who it was. He recognised the voice, he really—</p><p>Davian.</p><p>That’s who it was.</p><p>Before he got a chance to jump up and shout ‘eureka!’ (And bang his head on Frank’s bunk in the process), his cell door unlocked and opened. He looked at it curiously, before peeking his head up to Frank’s bunk. He was still asleep, even though it was eight in the morning. Ford had always been a bit of a night owl, but Frank was clearly not an early riser. Ford winced, his joints aching as he got up and looked through the doors. He was about to start making a run for it, but he stopped himself when some kind of laser weapon began cutting a hole in the roof. A rope fell down quickly afterwards, before Fiddleford poked his head down through the hole. He gestured for Ford to hurry, jolting the latter out of his trance. He grabbed the rope and was pulled to safety.</p><hr/><p>Dipper glanced at the the hundreds of bleeping lights that covered the jail’s mainframe. He smiled as the USB that McGucket had given him finished hacking it, causing a new tab to open up on his laptop. Not sure which cell was Ford’s, he selected them all and clicked <em>open.</em></p><p>“Hey there short stack.”</p><p>Dipper whipped around to see a tall man wearing a brown hunting jacket standing behind him. It was the same man that rammed the school bus into the water.</p><p>“‘Ya miss me?” the man said. Then suddenly, he lunged at Dipper.</p><hr/><p>Dipper groaned. Everything hurt. He slowly pulled his eyes open and glanced around. A rope was wrapped around his chest, tying him to the chair. Whoever had captured him had obviously accounted for his cybernetic hand. He was in a large hallway, with two guards flanking each side. If he had a weapon (and his hand) he could probably get away, but he had neither. There was a desk to his right with a black briefcase on it. Two people walked into the room, only one of whom he knew. The first was the man who had captured him, the second a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair. At the end of the hall there was a door, which slowly opened. Dipper didn’t need to be told who it was that came through.</p><p>He knew the second he heard the voice.</p><p>“Hello Dipper,” the man said. “I said on the phone that I couldn’t tell you my name, but now that you’ve seen my face, combined with the fact that Ford will have figured me out by now, I think it’s safe to say. My name is Phillip Davian, and yours is Mason Pines.”</p><p>“Okay,” Dipper said clearing his throat. “First of all, don’t call me that. Secondly—” he glanced around the room—“I’m loving this Bond villain aesthetic you got going on.” He chuckled as he spoke, then nodded at Davian. “You’re really killing it.”</p><p>Davian bit his lip. “I’ve never seen a James Bond film,” he admitted sheepishly.</p><p>The man in the hunting jacket looked at his boss in shock, as the woman sighed.</p><p>“Please excuse Viggo,” Davian said. “He’s a bit of a film buff.”</p><p>But Dipper wasn’t focusing on the two men, instead he was focusing on the woman. She discreetly turned her hand, revealing a scalpel in its grip. She nodded to him slightly, before turning to Viggo.</p><p>“If we want information from the boy, then perhaps it would be easier if I was left alone with him. I am uniquely qualified after all.”</p><p>Davian considered it for a moment, before beginning to shake his head. “No,” he muttered. “Not alone, Elsa, but I like your thinking.” He glanced at Viggo. “Leave us.”</p><p>Viggo nodded, making his way back through the door he first came out of.</p><p>Davian, satisfied, turned back to Dipper. “Now,” he said, grabbing the black case and opening it. Inside lay various knives and syringes, along with pretty much every other method of torture imaginable. “You’re going to tell us where Stanford Pines is.”</p><p>Dipper gulped.</p><p>Davian picked a sharp carving knife out of the case, along with a syringe filled with a clear liquid.</p><p>Just when Dipper thought he was done for, Elsa jumped up and kicked Davian in the face, knocking him over. She quickly ran over to Dipper and handed him the scalpel, before turning to the guards. Thinking fast, Elsa grabbed the knife her husband was carrying and stabbed a guard through the chest. She dispatched the other three guards rather quickly, before rushing over to help Dipper finish cutting the ropes.</p><p>She pulled him out of them, before running over to Davian. The syringe had rolled under a desk. She picked it up and jabbed him in the neck with it, before grabbing his legs and dragging him away.</p><p>“Come on,” she said quietly. “We have to move.”</p><p>Dipper, still in complete disbelief in what had just happened, stood on the spot for a second. Elsa raised her eyebrows, before Dipper finally realised what she was telling him to do. The two ran through a door at the back as fast as they could (which wasn’t that fast, considering that they were still dragging Davian. A few moments later, they reached a window. Elsa reached over and opened it.</p><p>“There’s a rubbish skip down below,” she said softly. “I’ll go first, but if you want out of her, you need to jump, okay?”</p><p>Dipper nodded slowly.</p><p>“Good.” And with that, she held her husband in her arms and vaulted out the gap.</p><hr/><p>Dipper’s eyes burst open, the light blinding him. “What – what happened?” he asked, beginning to register his surroundings. He was in the passenger seat of a car, with Elsa on the driver’s side.</p><p>“You passed out,” Elsa replied, keeping her eyes firmly locked on the road. “I’m assuming it was from the drop, but I couldn’t be sure.”</p><p>Now that she mentioned it, he did remember jumping out a window at some point. And a lot of other things that had happened that day. Davian had known where Ford was imprisoned, but he’d asked where Ford was. That meant that the prison escape had gone well. McGucket and Soos had worked their magic. It was then that a thought occurred to him.</p><p>“Do you happen to have my hand?”</p><p>Elsa immediately winced. “Sorry,” she turned the wheel. “They took it in for analysis. It’s some pretty advanced tech.”</p><p>“Dammit,” Dipper muttered. <em>I really hope I remembered to pack my backup hand.</em> He glanced in the back, and to his shock, Davian was sitting up, well awake. His face was one of rage and… hurt.</p><p> He was giving Elsa the death glare, although she was either blissfully unaware or choosing to ignore it.</p><p>Dipper, feeling in control of the situation for the first time in ages, remarked, “What? You salty that you got captured?”</p><p>“A minor setback, I can assure you.” Davian leaned forward, the chains of his handcuffs clinking together. “I will get out of here,” he said, sending Dipper a similar, if less venomous death glare. “And when I do, you’re going to wish you were never born, Mason.”</p><p>Dipper sighed, beginning to get used to Davian’s complete omniscience.</p><p>“You’ve just started a war, and when you lose, you’ll be remembered in history as the person who tried to prevent me from saving the world.”</p><p>Dipper sighed. “And when you lose, no one will let you forget it.”</p><p>Davian raised his and leaned back in his car seat.</p><p>Then he smiled.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So Elsa finally did something. She’ll be a big part of the plot going forward, and the next time we check in on this plot line, we’ll find out how Davian knows Ford and build some tension between said scientist and Elsa. Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Scars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>One of their own holds a dark secret.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Corduroy blood.</em>
</p><p>Wendy tapped her fingers on the desk, her handcuffs clinking against each other.</p><p>
  <em>Corduroy blood.</em>
</p><p>She and her family had been locked in separate interrogation rooms as soon as the evidence had been found.</p><p>
  <em>Corduroy blood.</em>
</p><p>Gideon hadn’t been released yet, as he was suspected to have at least conspired in the murder. The interrogation had been ridiculously boring; it was just the same questions asked over and over again, just phrased slightly differently.</p><p>
  <em>Corduroy blood.</em>
</p><p>It had been about two days, and no new information had been discovered.</p><p>
  <em>Corduroy blood.</em>
</p><p>She knew who it was. Her mother was alive. Wendy didn’t know why she killed Tad, but she knew it couldn’t have been her father or her brothers.</p><p>If it was them, there would’ve been a lot more noise.</p><p>
  <em>Corduroy blood.</em>
</p><p>As the words echoed through her head one final time, a laser shot through the cell door’s lock. Mabel pushed it open, holding both Wendy’s shotgun-axe and a laser pistol of her own.</p><p>“I knew you’d come through,” Wendy remarked.</p><p>“You’re welcome,” Mabel said. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a set of keys. “That letter you slipped me was <em>not</em> subtle.” She handed Wendy the keys, then continued. “There’s a manhunt for us out there, and Brantley’s leading the charge.”</p><p>“I hate that guy,” Wendy muttered, unlocking her cuffs. “That’s better.” She rubbed at her wrists for a second, before hearing the sound of gunshots being fired.</p><p>Stan rounded the corner holding two pistols, firing them down the corridor in quick succession. “Come on!” he shouted, running into the cell. “We haven’t got all day!”</p><p>Wendy grabbed her weapon from Mabel’s hand and ran her finger across the blade. “You’re right.”</p><p>Wendy poked her head around the corner. The three of them were in the process of sneaking through McGucket’s mansion, and thankfully, hadn’t been spotted so far. They’d escaped the prison with relative ease, their only roadblock being – ironically- Blubs and Durland. No one had been overly comfortable stunning them (those lasers hurt a lot more than you’d realise), so Stan had resorted to distracting them long enough so they could make their escape. All he’d had to do was mention Weirdmageddon, which had caused Blubs to tell him to ‘not mention Weirdmageddon.’ Durland had immediately tased him whilst shouting ‘never mind all that!’ (so maybe the ‘don’t hurt them’ plan hadn’t worked out exactly as they’d wanted it to).</p><p>Once that had been dealt with, they’d formulated a plan to steal one of McGucket’s many planes. The first thing they did was talk to Pacifica; she knew the place like the back of her hand, and had agreed to help them sneak in. That was when they met up with Henry, one of McGucket’s many butlers. He’d been in the main hall when they’d entered, and had been immediately briefed on the situation. He’d been intent on helping them, so much so that he pulled one of McGucket’s old pilot-bots out of storage to fly the plane (her name was DIANA, with stood for Digitally Intelligent Artificial Navigation Automaton).</p><p>“Takeoff in T-minus sixty seconds,” DIANA warned. She was humanoid in shape, bright, spotless white plating covering her body. Her eyes glowed a bright blue, her robotics barely visible behind them. “For your own safety, I’d suggest using the harnesses you call ‘seatbelts’ that are designed to keep you safe.”</p><p>“This could be a bumpy ride,” Henry warned, doing as he was instructed and fastening his belt.</p><p>Stan sighed as he, Wendy and Mabel leaned over the monitor. “Who we lookin’ for again?”</p><p>“Jane Corduroy,” Wendy said, her arm being slightly jostled by Mabel’s.</p><p>Looking up, Mabel responded, “You last saw her in Australia, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Wendy replied, handing Mabel a photo taken on that very holiday. Then she caught herself. “Wait… how do you know that?”</p><p>Mabel abruptly stopped typing, as if she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Oh,” she muttered, her voice losing it’s happy tone and switching to a more somber one. “Dipper told me. I don’t know how he found out, though.”</p><p>Wendy mused, “That’s odd. I don’t remember telling him anything about that.”</p><p><em>Dad could’ve told him,</em> the voice of reason inside her head whispered.</p><p>The other voice, the more narcissistic one, decided to chip in, saying, <em>What if she’s lying?</em></p><p>Mabel chuckled slightly. “Yeah, you know Dipper. Always looking for answers and mysteries and all that junk. She typed for a minute longer, before a familiar image popped up on the screen. “This her?”</p><p>“That’s her,” Wendy responded, choosing to ignore the fact that her mother was using an entirely separate name now.</p><p>“She got caught by a security camera going into a bar twenty minutes ago,” Stan said. “It’s called the Prancing Pony, it’s in Scotland.”</p><p>“DIANA!” Henry shouted. “How far off are we?”</p><p>“About fifteen minutes and thirty-six seconds, sir.”</p><p>The Prancing Pony was a small, middling bar that sat to one side of a busy Glasgow street. The pavement was new and shiny, matching the relative nobility of the establishment it sat in front of. Inside the bar, the patrons – of which there were many – were anything <em>but</em> noble. They were loud and boisterous (despite this fact, the place was actually relatively clean). The black and white checkered floor was bright and radiant, the bar top missing the usual puddles spilled there. At the very back of the bar, there was a woman sat at a booth. She had shoulder length brown hair and wore a tan long coat, her eyes covered up by a pair of aviator sunglasses. In her hand she held a glass of wine, taking sips out of it every now and again.</p><p>Wendy, noticing this, made her way over to the table and sat down. Both women knew who the other was, the silence palpable.</p><p>“I should’ve known you’d come,” Jane said, finally breaking the silence.</p><p>Wendy didn’t bother to respond, the shock of the situation already too much for her. She’d told herself she was ready, but hearing her mother’s voice for the first time in years made it all worthless.</p><p><em>Okay,</em> she thought. <em>Preeetty sure I’m having a panic attack. Jeez, is this what Dipper and Mabel have to go through every day? Whoa.</em></p><p>“I never should’ve taken him out…” Jane muttered, shaking her head and smiling. Seemingly unaware to her daughter’s distress, she continued, “It was too big a risk.”</p><p>“What the hell…” Wendy asked, her panic having died down to manageable levels.</p><p>“Well, I had to.” Jane tapped her fingers on the table, the remainder of her alcohol shaking. Her smile was off – too wide, too crazy. “Let’s just say he was a bit of a square, and—”</p><p>“No, no,” Wendy responded. “what I meant was – <em>what the hell?”</em></p><p>“Oh.” Jane’s tone was soft and quiet, somber even. Her manic smile dissipated as quickly as it had appeared, being replaced with a more regretful expression. “Do you remember the night I disappeared?” she asked, pulling her shades off.</p><p>Wendy’s heart pounded in her chest as she was reminded of the night she’d tried so hard to forget, but failed all the same. It was the reason she’d been so casual about Weirdmageddon and all the other life-threatening situations she’d been in over the past few years. Death had lost it’s impact that night; because as far as she was concerned, it would’ve been a blessing to see her mother again. She’d survived the worst life could throw at her, even the prospect of Armageddon hadn’t phased her. But now, she was confronted with something that did scare her. She couldn’t even bare to fathom the thought that Jane was evil. As far as she was concerned, her mother wasn’t doing this of her own accord. Either that, or it straight up wasn’t her. Whatever the case, she’d make sure she saved her mother.</p><p>“Yeah.” The word came out as a hoarse rasp, the emotions bubbling up inside her coming to a breaking point.</p><p>To that, Jane sighed and began her tale.</p><p>
  <em>Jane’s shivering hands wrapped around her flashlight tightly. She really should’ve brought her coat. It was freezing. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing her campsite sink under the horizon. Her boots squelched in the soft mud of the track, the trees surrounding her whistling in the wind. She was making a conscious effort to be as quiet as possible, as to hear… whatever it was more easily.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Only then did she realise that she’d been holding her breath this whole time. She let it out with a long, satisfying blow, it being one of the only sounds that could be heard in the silent forest.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Then she froze.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>With movements slow and rigid, she pivoted around to the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from behind a bush not too far from her, two metres at best. Still frozen in fear, she pulled together the manpower to take her hunting knive out of her pocket. It was only then that a thought occurred to her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>What if it was the same monster that had destroyed the hotel?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As it turned out, she was right.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But she was too late.</em>
</p><p>Jane ran a hand over the thing scars that crossed her face, a stark reminder of that night. Just before she took another sip of alcohol, Wendy spoke again.</p><p>“So what was it?” she asked, her mouth agape.</p><p>Jane chuckled. “A gremloblin,” she responded. “Granted, I didn’t know that at the time, but when I looked into those glassy, golden eyes, they showed me the truth.”</p><p>“What truth?” Wendy inquired, her voice cracking with fear.</p><p>Jane leaned forward, placing her hands on the table. “That the supernatural is dangerous. And it will destroy us.”</p><p>“What?” Wendy exclaimed, standing up and shoving her chair back instinctively. It clattered to the floor, garnering the attention of some of the patrons.</p><p>“The end is at hand,” Jane muttered. “The end is at hand.”</p><p>Wendy’s eyes widened as she glanced over the bar, to Stan.</p><p>
  <em>Big mistake.</em>
</p><p>“Oh,” Jane smiled. “You’ve got friends.” The off-putting smile returned again, now accompanied by lifeless, unblinking eyes. “I assume that their job is to parent me from escaping?”</p><p>Fake confidence flooded Wendy’s veins, the familiar sensation comforting. Still, her façade was clearly crumbling. “Yeah,” she said, her hands refusing to stop shaking. “And you’re coming with us.”</p><p>Jane chuckled, standing up herself. She was maybe an inch taller than her daughter, but to Wendy it felt like Jane was towering over her.</p><p>“Whatever you say, boss.”</p><p>
  <strong>—Wkh hqg lv dw kdqg</strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter was really fun to write, if I’m being honest. In the next chapter, I have to develop Davian’s character a lot more, since he’ll be my longest-lasting and most complex villain. I also have to start developing the Ford/Elsa relationship, because I have plans for the both of them (and no, before you ask, they will never actually get together). Also, I want to see if anyone can guess what the name of the bar is a reference to (it’s actually really obvious).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chaos Theory</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Davian stays one step ahead of the Pines.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The Zodiac had started using the catacombs as a base of operations as soon as they’d arrived in Russia. After capturing Ivanov, they’d had some time to scout around for a new base. They’d chosen it as whilst it was abandoned, it was still in relatively good shape. The Argon was a tad too small to act as a fully functioning HQ, and also far too noticeable. Even with the newly installed cloaking, it was still visible on radar. They’d chosen to leave it cloaked in the middle of a valley that was rarely visited in the back end of nowhere. The place had become somewhat homey in the short time they’d inhabited it, and there was even enough space for everyone to have their own rooms.</p><p> </p><p>Except now, one of them was empty.</p><p> </p><p>Ford had spent every waking moment since his rescue worrying about Dipper; every time he walked past the boy’s bed he’d feel a pang of guilt begin to work it’s way through his mind. Every time he saw kit he’d think to himself, <em>Next time. Next time will be too much.</em> Usually he wouldn’t be worrying this badly this quickly, but he knew full well what Davian was capable of. The man had tried to kill him when they’d first met, and very nearly succeeded. Davian had been consumed by hate, fear and worry, enough to make him do anything for the greater good. Davian’s goals had always been altruistic; he wanted to protect humanity. But before, he had a line, a line he refused to cross. But now, Ford feared that that line was crossed a long time ago (the line was a dot to him).</p><p> </p><p>And now, because of his own mistakes, Dipper could be hurt, further traumatised or worse—</p><p> </p><p>No.</p><p> </p><p>No, he didn’t dare go to that place. Too many people had died because of him, he couldn’t bear to add Dipper to the list. Now that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t be willing to make another addition – someone who’s name began with a ‘D’ and ended in an ‘N.’</p><p> </p><p>“Stanford Pines.”</p><p> </p><p>Ford whipped around, snapping out of his trance and cutting his pacing short. In the doorway, he saw three figures, only two of whom he recognised.</p><p> </p><p>It was Davian who had spoken, his trademark cocky smile plastered across his face. His hands were cuffed behind his back. His gleaming white hair stuck up in spikes on one side, almost as if he’d rubbed a balloon on it (this had actually been a side-effect of laying down on a car seat for an extended period of time). The cuffs were held by a taller woman in a black dress. Her dark brown hair was clearly dyed, faint grey roots beginning to show. Beside her was Dipper, who (aside form the many small cuts that littered his face, looked fairly untouched, although there was an oddly coloured stain on the bottom edge of his coat.</p><p> </p><p>“Davian,” Ford spat, the venom in his voice palpable. As much as he wanted to start shouting and raging, he had more important matters to attend to. He knelt down to to Dipper height (which was a fair bit more than he remembered. Dipper had grown about two inches in the last six months alone) and cradled his face, inspecting it for any permanent damage.</p><p> </p><p>Dipper smiled and jokingly flicked his grunkle’s hand away with a soft, “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” But even as he said it, he was wincing, some of the cuts opening and closing slightly – probably due to the movement of his face when he spoke. As Ford’s hand ran over more sizeable cut on his cheekbone, Dipper took a sharp intake of breath.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry,” Ford said quickly, pulling himself up to his full height and ruffling Dipper’s hair. “Go find Fiddleford, alright? He’ll patch you up.”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper smiled and rolled his eyes sarcastically, limping ever so slightly as he walked off.</p><p> </p><p>Ford turned back to Davian, newfound rage filling eyes. “What did you do to him?” he growled, grabbing at his rival’s collar.</p><p> </p><p>The woman pulled Davian out of Ford’s grasp, saying, “He didn’t do anything. I saved your boy before he got the chance. The cuts are because we had to jump into a rubbish skip to escape.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh,” Ford breathed, his rage slowly fading. “Well, thank you…?” He gestured for the woman to introduce herself.</p><p> </p><p>“Elsa,” she responded, reaching out to shake Ford’s hand.</p><p> </p><p>He complied immediately, one of the few ways he chose to express his gratitude. “You have no idea how grateful I am.”</p><p> </p><p>“Who is he to you?” Elsa asked, unfurling her hand from Ford’s.</p><p> </p><p>Ford coughed, “He’s my great-nephew.” He glanced over to where Dipper was high-fiving Soos (only now did Ford realise that he was missing his hand) and hugging. “And a good friend.”</p><p> </p><p>“Aw, that’s sweet,” Davian interjected, pulling away from Elsa and staring Ford down. “Even after you ignored my advice about that <em>bloody</em> triangle, even after you caused the <em>end of time,</em> you still got a happy ending.” He grimaced, pulling at his cuffs. “You’ve not changed a bit,” he spat.</p><p> </p><p>Ford sighed, looking over Davian’s shoulder to Elsa. “Third door to the left, there’s a spare room. We’ll tie him up in there.”</p><p> </p><p>Elsa nodded and grabbed Davian’s wrists, following Ford’s directions.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Dipper collapsed onto his bed the second he entered his room. He couldn’t be bothered getting changed; he was simply too tired. His body was practically begging him to go to sleep (he hadn’t had any since he’d left the Falls), but his brain was telling him otherwise. He didn’t want to face another round of the nightmares that tormented him day in, day out. He didn’t want to relive the worst moments of his life over and over and over again until he lost his mind. He couldn’t bear to have another flashback, and he was sick to the back teeth of people looking at him like he should be in an insane asylum.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>He just wanted to be normal.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Just for one day, he’d like to be a normal kid. Just for one day, he’d like to get a good night’s sleep, to be free of the nightmares and flashbacks that plagued him. He was sick of being Dipper Pines, the traumatised fourteen year-old with a tendency for violence and a dark past. He missed being Dipper Pines, a regular twelve year-old who did well at school and had only ever heard of Gravity Falls through vague mutterings that were responded by a quick ‘That’s where Stanford lives, right?’ As much as he got made fun of, as much as he didn’t like Piedmont, they seemed kind of inconsequential to the problems he had to deal with now. At least he didn’t have the weight of the world on his shoulders, at least he could make friends without them being turned off by a flashback or a panic attack.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>He just wanted to be normal.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Dog, are you okay? ‘Cos you don’t look okay.”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper glanced up, seeing Soos standing in the doorway. He looked worried, as one would be if he found his <em>Pterodactyl Bro<sup>TM</sup></em> crying into his pillow at eleven o’clock at night.</p><p> </p><p>Dipper slammed his head back into his pillow, a muffled, “I’m fine,” barely seeping out.</p><p> </p><p>“Are ‘ya sure?” Soos asked, walking over to the bed and sitting down. “‘Cos most people who are fine aren’t crying.”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper’s eyes leapt open in surprise as he felt at his face. Surprisingly enough, he felt a tear drop onto his palm. He hadn’t even noticed, he’d been too busy… introspecting. He caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror. His eyes were red and puffy, the sizeable bags underneath them doing noting to help his disheveled look. His cheeks had red lines running down them, side-effect of the tears. With a heavy sigh, he sat up and rubbed his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“… no,” he conceded. “No, I’m not okay.” His legs hung off the edge of the bed, swinging back and forth every few seconds. He took a moment to catch his breath, before letting his head fall on Soos’ shoulder. “I’m tired of being so stressed all the time, of reliving Weirdmageddon and the Sock Opera over and over and over again… I just want it to stop,” he said, his voice cracking as a more desperate tone rose. “I just want to go one day without seeing <em>him,</em> and—” by this point, the words coming out of his mouth had devolved to the point of being incomprehensible, and he had resorted to wrapping his arms around Soos and burying his head into his chest. He almost never cried, and if he did, he made an effort to wait until he was alone, or purely in the company of Mabel. But his trauma had broken him down, and now he was too far gone to care about such pleasantries. “I just want to be normal,” he mumbled.</p><p> </p><p>“Why?” Soos asked bluntly. He wasn’t very good at all this introspective, heart-to-heart kind of stuff, so he just said the first thing that came to mind. Sometimes that blatant honesty was exactly what the person needed to hear. Other times, it wasn’t.</p><p> </p><p>This was one of those times.</p><p> </p><p>“Wha – what? What do you mean?” Dipper sputtered, slightly releasing his grip on Soos and looking him in the eye.</p><p> </p><p>“Why be normal?” Where’s the fun in that?”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper let go completely, dropping to the floor. He bit his lip and winced as a sharp pain worked it’s way up his bad leg, but kept up the façade anyway. “Why be normal?” he asked, a small chuckle escaping his mouth. <em>“Why be normal?”</em> he growled. “Oh golly gee,” he mocked, putting on a high-pitched voice and plastering a naïve smile across his face. “Why didn’t I think of that before? Oh yes, that’s right—” he scratched his chin and raised an eyebrow in jest, and then hollered, “BECAUSE I’M NOT A TODDLER!”</p><p> </p><p>Soos recoiled slightly, shocked by his <em>Pterodactyl Bro’s</em> (still trademarked) outburst. “Look dude, I don’t thing you’re quite getting’ what I’m saying here—“</p><p> </p><p>“Oh no. I get it. I get it completely!” Dipper yelled, turning his back on Soos and gesturing to the ceiling with his arms wide open. “You see—” he whipped back around—“I get it now. You’re just that stupid and naïve that you honestly believe that I can just flip a switch and suddenly this <em>whole bloody nightmare</em> will just poof out of existence. I can’t get through one day without people looking at me like I’m mentally disturbed, or like I should be locked up at Arkham with the Joker! People didn’t like me before Gravity Falls, but now making friends is impossible, because people avoid me like the black <em>fucking plague.</em> Although on second thought, that that would be unfair to the plague!”</p><p> </p><p>“Y-you done?” Soos asked nervously.</p><p> </p><p>Dipper face contorted in a slowly fading grimace, his chest heaving in and out. Beads of sweat were working their way down his forehead, and he’d been clenching his one remaining hand so hard that he’d left nail marks on his palm. He’d surprised even himself with his outburst. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and after a solid thirty seconds of standing in the same spot and panting for breath, the fiery rage retreated to the back of his mind, extinguished. “Yeah.” A moment later, his eyes widened in shock as he remembered all he had said. “Oh god – Soos, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it, that was horrible, and – what the hell are you doing?”</p><p> </p><p>“Hugs dood!” Soos responded. “Hugs are like, <em>the</em> best medicine. At least, that’s what my yoga instructor told me.”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper shivered at the thought of Soos doing yoga. “Why are you being so nice to me?” he asked, pushing the thought aside. “I just yelled at you for a minute straight!”</p><p> </p><p>“So?” Soos responded. Dipper was clearly still looking for a proper answer, which was something Soos didn’t have. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. Dipper thought he didn’t deserve hugs, but Soos knew that that wasn’t true. Dipper used analogies and metaphors all the time to explain things to him that he didn’t understand, but now, Soos had come up with the Super-Ultra-Mega-Rad Analo-Phor 9000.1!</p><p> </p><p>That’s what he called it anyway.</p><p> </p><p>“Dude, do you remember after your first summer in Gravity Falls, how I told you I broke my pinky finger?”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper looked up for a second, his puffy red eyes lost in thought. “… not really?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, well, I did,” Soos babbled. “The doctors told me that it had to be wrapped to my other finger until it was strong again, right?”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper sighed. “Soos, why are you telling me this?” He pulled himself out of the hug, nearly tripping over his shoelace as he stumbled back.</p><p> </p><p>“Because people are like fingers,” Soos said softly. “You’re the broken pinky, and I’m the other finger.” He held his arms out wide, smiling at his friend. “Can I wrap you?”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper chuckled, and for the first time since he’d left the Falls, let a genuine smile cross his face. It still hurt, but… less.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright,” he muttered, walking forward and letting Soos pull his large arms around his small torso. Not five minutes later, Dipper was sound asleep. And even after Soos had picked him up and him under the blankets, even after Soos had left, he didn’t have a single nightmare.</p><p> </p><p>And it was the best night of sleep he’d had in years.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Ford Pines was worried.</p><p> </p><p>Worried about Dipper. Sure, he’d gotten back in one piece, but it wasn’t his physical heath that was the problem. It was his mental health. Over the past few weeks, Ford had only heard Mabel have nightmares; her screams were the only one he noticed. He’d originally interpreted this as a good thing (at least for Dipper); less nightmares meant that he was moving on, or that he had found a better way to cope with his trauma. But as Ford had looked into it more, he realised that the opposite was in fact the case – Dipper was getting worse. As it had turned out, the reason that Dipper had been having less nightmares wasn’t because they’d been going away, but because he was choosing to deprive himself of sleep for as long as he could manage in a vain attempt to ward them off. The entire incident had surfaced when Dipper had come home with a C- on a physics test, then fallen asleep at the dinner table while Ford was telling him not to worry, and that ‘We all make mistakes, even the best of us stumble at times.’ He’d felt the need to let the boy know this, as when he’d gotten home, all he could mutter was ‘If I’m not the smart guy, then who am I?” Only ten minutes ago, Soos had come to inform him that Dipper had just had a bit of a meltdown, but that ‘Everything’s okay now dawg! I finally got him to go to sleep!” Curse Soos and his naïve optimism. How could he possibly think that everything was okay? Then again, he was probably just being facetious.</p><p> </p><p>“Can’t sleep?”</p><p> </p><p>The voice caught Ford’s attention at once. He glanced over to see Elsa walking over to the couches that they’d moved from the Argon and sitting down opposite him.</p><p> </p><p>“Not tried yet,” Ford responded, picking up a bottle of wine he’d been intending to drink and pouring himself a glass. “Want some?”</p><p> </p><p>Elsa thought for a moment, before responding with a simple “Sure.”</p><p> </p><p>Ford nodded briskly, pulling another wine glass out and filling it up too. Once he’d finished, he placed the bottle back on the coffee table and handed Elsa her glass. She took a sip, then raised her brow in surprise.</p><p> </p><p>“What is this stuff?” she asked, enthralled by the taste.</p><p> </p><p>Ford shrugged. “That’s Stanley’s secret.”</p><p> </p><p>“Who’s Stanley?” Elsa inquired, taking another sip.</p><p> </p><p>Ford smiled lightly, tilting his head in a manner in which sober him would never do (it was a rather strong drink, and he’d had a glass of scotch not ten minutes earlier. It wouldn’t be enough to give him a hangover, which he was eternally grateful for).</p><p> </p><p>“If I answer your question, will you answer mine?” When Elsa nodded, Ford continued. “He’s my brother,” he articulated, opting for a full-blown gulp of drink this time instead of a sip.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah,” Elsa breathed, setting her glass down on the coffee table. She seemed fully aware of what would soon be asked of her, prompting the ageing scientist with a small flick of her wrist.</p><p> </p><p>Ford leaned forward, and with a shadow crossing his eyes, asked his question.</p><p> </p><p>“Tell me everything I need to know about Davian.”</p><p> </p><p>“I feel like that’s more of a demand than a question, but alright.” Elsa kicked her legs up on the table for the first time in years. Such behaviour was not tolerated at the HIVE base, but Ford didn’t seem to care. “He wants to destroy the supernatural,” she said bluntly. “I don’t know why, but I do know how.”</p><p> </p><p>Intrigued, Ford beckoned for her to continue.</p><p> </p><p>“A few months ago – before the world lit on fire – I helped him steal a case from MI6. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but after a bit of detective work, I discovered that it was – in fact – a nuclear launch device.</p><p> </p><p>Ford perked up at the notion; he’d seen what those weapons could do in his travels to the many parallel Earths – and it wasn’t pretty. “What’s he going to use it on?”</p><p> </p><p>“The source of the supernatural,” Elsa responded. “Which – luckily for you – isn’t Gravity Falls. He’s going to nuke it, which will cause a cataclysmic reaction in it’s core, resulting in the emergence of what some might call a black hole.”</p><p> </p><p><em>“What some might call?”</em> Ford asked. “That’s not how science works! Either it is a black hole or it isn’t.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s both, actually,” Elsa smirked. “It’s a paradox, and when it collapses in on itself, it will suck all that came from it back in. That being the supernatural.”</p><p> </p><p>“Everything?” Ford asked, his voice wavering ever so slightly. “W-what about people with… birth deformities, to name a completely random and unrelated example.”</p><p> </p><p>Elsa smiled a tad, consoling his fear the littlest bit. “No, they’re not magical.”</p><p> </p><p>“Where is the source?” Ford asked, pulling his legs up onto the sofa and crossing them.</p><p> </p><p>Elsa pulled her feet off the table and finished her wine, placing the glass back on the table with a soft clinking sound. “The Bermuda Triangle,” she said at last, breaking the awkward, stagnant pause that had been left after Ford had spoken.</p><p> </p><p>“When will he be able to do this?” Ford probed, his voice rising a good few octaves from worry.</p><p> </p><p>Elsa replied, “He still needs the codes and a tactical satellite, both of which he has avenues to get.”</p><p> </p><p>The room went deathly silent as Ford pondered a curious question over. Elsa had said that anything inherently magical would get sucked through.</p><p> </p><p>Did the members of the zodiac count as inherently magical?</p><p> </p><p>They must – after all, even magic is rooted in science. Even the most ridiculous and nonsensical things had an explanation. Magic is just science we don’t understand yet, so the energy created by the zodiac that would supposedly have killed Bill must’ve come from somewhere, and they must have some way to harness it. Perhaps a rare genetic mutation in their DNA that – as it only affected ten people in the history of the world – was never noticed. That would constitute as ‘inherently magical,’ right?</p><p> </p><p>He hoped he didn’t have to find out.</p><p> </p><p>“So what of this war you started?” he asked accusingly, cutting through the pause and standing up. The familiar rage in his eyes was back again, he was sure of it.</p><p> </p><p>Elsa sighed, standing up to meet Ford’s height. “Davian planted fake evidence that ‘proved’ Germany to have been the root cause. You could probably figure out why they were the obvious candidate,” she appealed, to which Ford nodded reluctantly. “He needed to cover up our thief of the case somehow, so that’s what he came up with. It functioned as a distraction too, letting him operate with essentially no opposition.”</p><p> </p><p>As much as Ford hated to admit it, it was a pretty good plan. He didn’t know how black holes worked, but what he did know was that they generally don’t stretch out forever, they have a radius. Which was was why he needed to get his family as far away from it as possible.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Davian pulled at his cuffs in frustration, the chain links jangling together. The noise echoed throughout the catacombs, before he realised that his efforts were pointless and gave up altogether. How had he allowed himself to get caught? And by his own wife no less (anyone who said ‘you fight like a girl’ had clearly never been on the receiving end of Elsa’s wrath, she hit like a bloody train). He’d suspected some feelings of resentment, but working with the enemy was on a whole other level. Sure, maybe he hadn’t been the best husband over the years, but he married her for a reason. And he still held that reason close to his heart.</p><p> </p><p>He knew how this had happened. It was something he’d seen in his base’s interrogation room that had shocked him to his very core.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Something yellow.</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p>
  
</p><p>The next morning, Dipper was awoken by a a large figure looming over him, shaking his shoulder gently. He grabbed the blankets with his left (and only) hand and pulled them over his face, desperately hiding from the light that seared into his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“Five more minutes…” he muttered.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s time to get up,” Ford said, his tone much more delicate than usual. “Come on.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t want to.” In truth, Dipper hadn’t gotten that good of a sleep in a long time, and he missed it. He hated going to bed, but he loved sleep.</p><p> </p><p>Just another thing Bill had ruined for him.</p><p> </p><p>He pushed the thought out of his mind, desperately pleading to deities he didn’t even believe in for today to one of the precious few days where he didn’t think about Bill.</p><p> </p><p>Ford pulled the blankets off suddenly, Dipper’s one-handed and half asleep grip failing him. He proceeded to grab Dipper by him armpits and pull him away from the bed, setting him down on the bright blue wheelie chair that sat at his desk.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s two in the afternoon Mason,” Ford said, pulling up his sleeve and showing Dipper his watch.</p><p> </p><p>Dipper opened his mouth instinctively to complain at the use of his real name, before remembering that he actually liked it when Ford called him that. “I can’t believe you still use a watch,” he muttered. “You have a phone.”</p><p> </p><p>Ford chuckled, patting Dipper’s head. The phone had been a great birthday present from Stan (who had apparently gotten the idea from the twins), but sometimes he missed the old days. Modern day tech was incredible, and unlike Stan he’d found it relatively easy to use. At first he’d been completely baffled by it, but then he saw Soos order an anime body pillow off of one in under thirty seconds and realised that it couldn’t be that difficult if Soos could do it.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m still getting used to all this new technology,” Ford smirked. It was amazing to think that he’d been back in this dimension for over a year now. Time hadn’t exactly flown by in the multiverse (especially so when every dimension has a completely different set of time zones), but now, he felt like he’d done so much in so little time. The year had flown by before he’d even known realised, and he’d had more good things happen to him in that timespan than he had the entire other fifty-eight years of his life.</p><p> </p><p>He sighed, before turning back to look at Dipper. “Mason, I need to talk to you.”</p><p> </p><p>“… okay?” Dipper said after a second of confused silence.</p><p> </p><p>“I—”</p><p> </p><p>“STANFORD!” Fiddleford called from his workshop. “Come ‘ere, I need to talk to ‘ya!”</p><p> </p><p>Ford cursed under his breath, annoyed at how his one quiet moment with Dipper since this all began was being cut short. He’d have to tell him later.</p><p> </p><p>“Coming!” he replied, before passing Dipper his coat. “I got this cleaned for you, don’t get any more stains on it.”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper nodded slightly. “Got it,” he smiled.</p><p> </p><p>But Ford was already out the door, running past Soos (who was <em>still</em> hugging that damned anime pillow) and into the room they had designated as McGucket’s workshop. It was one of the larger rooms in the catacomb, so that’s what they had decided to use it for.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Fiddleford?” Ford inquired as he entered, immediately knocking a machine off the desk next to him. He winced, and muttered “Sorry,” as he leant down to pick it up and place it back on it’s pedestal.</p><p> </p><p>McGucket (seemingly unaware of the incident) turned around and smiled widely. “Ah, Stanford.” In his hand he held a rudimentary version of Dipper’s prosthetic hand, specifically the first working prototype. “I was looking through my old stuff, an’ I found this.” He tossed it to Ford, who caught it easily in one hand. “It’s not nearly as advanced as the final model, an’ it doesn’t have the camo-hingy feature we put on the good ‘wan, but as long as he wears gloves he should be fine.</p><p> </p><p>Ford studied the model closely, wondering how it would perform. The wrist was roughly arm-shaped, but the hand part was much less impressive. The final model had fully fleshed out fingers with very little exposed robotics, which was in sharp contrast to the prototype. The fingers and palm were similar in shape to the bones in an average human hand, with miniature gears and pistons moving in conjunction with the digits. They whirred audibly as they worked away, their sharp edges clinking together one by one. All in all, it was a significant downgrade from what Dipper was used to, but Ford figured that he’d have to live with it, at least for a while.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll make sure to tell him that,” Ford nodded. “Do you still have the blueprints of our working model?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” McGucket answered, digging a tablet out of a duffel bag and handing it to Ford. It’s screen showed a map of their surroundings, and in the centre, a little blue dot. “That’s Davian.”</p><p> </p><p>“You put a tracker on him?” Ford asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Waited for ‘im to doze off so he didn’t realise,” Fiddleford responded. “It’s ma’h best one yet, completed untraceable and encrypted. He won’t have a clue it’s there.”</p><p> </p><p>Ford nodded slowly, before pursing his lips. “Won’t he expect something if he can’t find any trackers? Surely that would be suspicious.” He was forgetting something, he was sure of it. It was so obvious, but he had no clue what.</p><p> </p><p>“I figured that,” Fiddleford said. “So I put another bog-standard, regular tracker in him as well.”</p><p> </p><p>Ford pocketed the hand, momentarily forgetting his doubts. “We’re not planning on letting him go, are we?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, heavens no.” Fiddleford held his hands up in defence, the baggy sleeves of his lab coat hanging down. “Just a precautionary measure, that’s all.”</p><p> </p><p>“Good,” Ford nodded. “I’ll go give this to Dipper, then we need to get Davian to Gravity Falls. It’ll be more secure there, so start packing this stuff.”</p><p> </p><p>McGucket nodded, pushing his green-tinted glasses up his nose. He itched the back of his head, his hand running over thinning grey hair. The thick beard that had once been longer than even Gandalf’s was now more bushy than anything else, barely reaching down his chin.</p><p> </p><p>Ford smiled, then whipped around to exit the workshop. As he walked into the main room, he glanced around, seeing Elsa sat on one of the couches. She’d tied her hair back into a tight ponytail and had changed out of her dress, instead opting for a black leather jacket with jeans and a t-shirt of the same colour. For the first time in months, Soos wasn’t in his Mr Mystery outfit. He’d changed into a more casual getup that wouldn’t look out of place on a foreign tourist (probably the reason he was wearing it). Dipper had put his trench coat back on, the right sleeve dangling off his severed wrist. He held his handicapped arm behind his back, almost as if he was embarrassed by it. The cuts on his face had faded ever so slightly, and the gash on his cheekbone had been stitched up.</p><p> </p><p>“Mas – Dipper?” Ford called, walking over to him and interrupting whatever conversation he’d been having with Soos. Confused, he looked between Dipper (who’d turned bright red), and Soos, who had crumpled up on the floor from laughter. “What’re you talking about?”</p><p> </p><p>“—nothing!” Dipper shouted, far too quickly for it to actually be nothing. “Absolutely nothing.”</p><p> </p><p>“… okay?” Ford said, not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer. “Anyway,” he continued, changing the subject. “I got you this.” He passed the prototype hand to Dipper, who gasped in appreciation.</p><p> </p><p>He pulled his hand out from behind his back and rolled up the sleeve. The cut had been made about halfway up his forearm and grafted onto it was the metal adaptor used to connect his hand, which was surrounded by scar tissue circling the edge of the metal. He took the hand from Ford and attached it, twisting it to lock it in place.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s one of the old prototypes,” Ford said as Dipper rolled his sleeve back down. “It doesn’t camouflage itself, so you’ll have to wear a glove.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh,” Dipper mumbled, saddened. He hated looking at the exposed robotics, it just made him relive what happened. Even with the glove on (and the gears occasionally getting stuck in the fabric), he could hear it whirring away, functioning as yet another stark reminder.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, now that we’re all here,” Ford observed as McGucket ran past him. <em>“Tardy as some may be,</em> I need to brief you on what we’re fighting for.” He glanced over to Elsa, who nodded in response. “Davian wants to nuke the source of the supernatural. When he does, it will open a black hole that will suck all the weirdness back in.”<br/><br/></p><p>“Like a giant vacuum cleaner?”</p><p> </p><p>“… yes,” Ford conceded. “Yes Soos, like a giant vacuum cleaner. He already has the launch device, all he needs now is is the codes and a satellite to transmit them.”</p><p> </p><p>“But we’ve got him now,” Dipper said. “So his plan has failed.” He looked at Elsa. “Right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Not really,” Elsa denoted. “Most of his employees aren’t true believers – they’re just there to get paid. But his board of directors are a whole other story.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ergo, we still have to take down HIVE,” Ford concluded. After a brief pause, he asked, “Anyone got any ideas on how we do that?”</p><p> </p><p>“You freeze,” an unfamiliar voice said.</p><p> </p><p>And that’s when everything went dark.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The sound of the lights shutting off echoed throughout the catacombs, startling Ford. He unholstered his gun at a speed fast enough to make a cowboy jealous, pointing at the origin of the voice. Dipper, although slightly slower, had his gun out too. Ford felt a pang of guilt when he saw his left hand shaking (his right was incapable of it for obvious reasons) ever so slightly as he raised the gun in the same direction that his grunkle did.</p><p> </p><p>Ford knew he didn’t have to remind him to set it to stun.</p><p> </p><p>Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elsa walk up next to him, unholstering her pistol (a real gun – not a laser one) and shining it’s torch attachment behind them, scanning for other troops.  The soldiers seemed to only be coming from the one direction, so they had a chance.</p><p> </p><p>“Freeze!” the voice said again, coming into view. He was in full tactical gear, with night-vision goggles pulled up on top of his helmet.  In his hands he held a simple M16, and as he got closer, Dipper paled slightly.</p><p> </p><p>“Viggo,” he muttered.</p><p> </p><p>“Just put your guns down,” Viggo said softly, keeping his M16 pointed at Elsa as she walked forward. “And no one gets hurt.”</p><p> </p><p>“I could say the same thing to you,” Elsa said, hiding her pistol behind her back. “You’re my friend Viggo.”</p><p> </p><p>Ford knew she was tricking him, but there was an element of truth in the way she spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“This is my choice,” she said, defiantly.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Please don’t make me go through you.”</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Viggo’s grip on the trigger lessened slightly, and for a split second, he took his aim off Elsa. A gunshot echoed through the cavern, then a low-pitched grunt followed. Viggo fell to floor clutching his shoulder, somehow keeping a grip on his rifle. His troops (of which there were ten of) looked at him for second in confusion. The masks that covered their faces looked confused if you really looked at them.</p><p> </p><p>Time seemed to slow down for Ford as he entered a situation he’d been in countless times before: a gunfight. During his time in the multiverse, he’d endured his fair share of them. Originally, he’d been petrified, but experience now forced him into an adrenaline-filled rush that made him feel like the Flash, or Quicksilver (or Dash from that movie Dipper liked called the… The Incredulouses?). He took a few steps forward, then opened fire on one of the troops.  The blue stun. Bolt hit them right in the chest, but seemed to have no effect. It was possible that they had Kevlar on, but it didn’t look like it. Ford scanned the troop all over, spotting an unarmoured area running around it’s abdomen. He too aim, then shot it until the gun overheated, smoke rising from the barrel. It had more of an effect than the last time,  electricity crackling up the soldier’s body, causing it to drop it’s gun.</p><p> </p><p>Sadly, it only seemed to prolong the inevitable.</p><p> </p><p>Within mere seconds, the troop had regained it’s footing and started barrelling towards Ford, tanking every blast shot his way.  An idea struck the ageing scientist suddenly. He quickly dodged out from the soldier’s hit and knocked it’s leg out from under it. He ran over to his duffel bag and pulled out the electrical conduit gloves he used on the Cycloptopus. The soldier began to make a beeline for him, but Ford pulled the glove on and grabbed it’s neck. More and more electricity was pumped into the soldier, before it fell to the ground, defeated.</p><p> </p><p>Just to make sure, Ford rolled it over onto it’s front and tore the mask off, revealing the exposed mechanics underneath.</p><p> </p><p>“They’re robots!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Shoot to kill!”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper, who’d been hanging back and shooting from afar (he didn’t want to kill anyone else), decided to enter the fray. As it turned out, killing robots was much easier than killing humans. He felt sort of bad for them, technological marvels reduced to disposable goons. As one ran at him, he reached up with his prosthetic and twisted it’s neck, crushing it, until he was able to yank it off and throw it over his shoulder. As the body clattered to the floor, he realised something.</p><p> </p><p>Viggo was missing.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Viggo took aim at the cell door’s lock and shot. It swung open, revealing Davian sitting on a chair struggling with his cuffs.</p><p> </p><p>“Took you long enough,” he muttered. “What happened to you?” He gestured to Viggo’s shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“I got hit. Kevlar took most of it though,” Viggo said, leaning down and placing his backpack on the floor. “Shit,” he cursed. “You got a bobby pin or something? I can’t find the pliers.”</p><p> </p><p>Davian reached up and ran his hands through his hair for a moment, before letting them drop back down. “Funnily enough, I’m not a nine year-old girl,” he deadpanned.</p><p> </p><p>“There you are,” Viggo grunted, producing a pair of pliers from the bag. He walked over and clasped it around the cuff, then pressed. After it snapped open, he got to work on the other one. Once it was done, he slung the backpack over his back, clipping the straps across his chest. “You’re cleared for extraction point A,” he said, handing Davian a wallet. “That should do you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks,” Davian said, taking it and running out.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Just as Dipper was about to alert Ford of the situation, he spotted Davian run past him, through one of the back exits. McGucket seemed to notice it too, running over an pulling a strange, rectangular device out of his pocket. He quickly jabbed it into Dipper’s neck, leaving a small red mark and a stinging sensation.</p><p> </p><p>“Go get ‘im!” McGucket shouted, holding up the tablet. Now there were two dots, one being Davian, the other being Dipper. “I’ll direct ‘ya!”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper hesitated for a moment, before nodding and running after Davian. He pulled and ear piece out of his pocket and jammed it into his ear. As he rounded as particularly sharp bend in the corridor, he slammed into a wall, unable to turn fast enough. He grunted, clutched his shoulder, and made a break for Davian.</p><p> </p><p>“Stanford!” Elsa yelled, mounting the shoulders of one of the robots to tackle it to the ground. “We need to go, now!”</p><p> </p><p>“No!” Ford responded. “There’s too much valuable equipment.”</p><p> </p><p>“We’re going to die if we don’t.” Elsa jabbed her pistol into the back of the soldier’s head and fired, killing it instantly.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?” Ford asked, taking cover in an alcove. “That was the last of them.”</p><p> </p><p>“More will come!” McGucket announced, running past them with a duffel bag filled to the brim with equipment. “We can everything else. The really important stuff’s on the Argon.”</p><p> </p><p>Reluctantly, Ford lowered his gun. “We need to get to it then.”</p><p> </p><p>“The van me and Dipper came in is still out back,” Elsa proposed. “We can use that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Then it’s settled,” Ford said. “Soos, you’re our getaway driver.”</p><p> </p><p>“You got it Stan Two.” Soos saluted and looked to Elsa. “Can I have the keys?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s already hotwired, just go and start it up.”</p><p> </p><p>Soos ran out, shouting, “Got it dude!” over his shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait…” Ford said, beginning to look concerned. “Where’s Dipper?”</p><p> </p><p>“He went after Davian,” McGucket responded, desperately shoving the science equipment spilling out of his bag back in.</p><p> </p><p>“After Davian?” Ford shouted, his voice cracking in seven different places (rather impressive for a five-syllable sentence). “Alone? Is he mad?”</p><p> </p><p>McGucket held his hands up in defence. “He’s not alone. I tagged him with the tracker so we can direct him.”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you mad!?”</p><p> </p><p>After a few seconds of silence and a fair bit of awkward staring, McGucket glared at Ford. “Really Stanford?”</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry,” Ford responded sheepishly. “Come on.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Dipper sprinted out of the catacombs, the broad daylight drilling into his eyes like daggers. “McGucket!” he shouted. “I need directions.” The radio crackled to life, Fiddleford’s voice barely making it through. The sound of his voice was deafeningly loud (like most old people, he held the phone way to close to his mouth).</p><p> </p><p>“Look to ‘yer right. There’s a shopping centre there, go up the escalator.”</p><p> </p><p>“Got it.” Dipper pranced through the automatic doors so fast they almost didn’t open in time. He pushed through people as he walked up (one of the benefits of being a kid was that people didn’t bat an eye when you made a scene, and it was an incredibly useful attribute for times like this).</p><p> </p><p>As much as he wanted to grow up, that was one thing he was going to miss.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Go up the next two escalators, then over to the balcony on your left,” McGucket drawled, buckling his seatbelt and getting a tighter grip on his tablet. Ford looked over his shoulder anxiously. It was a rarity to see the usually calm and collected scientist so worried. The only other times that Fiddleford could all was right after the portal incident and when he himself had been kidnapped by Shifty. Soos slammed his foot on the gas pedal, also following McGucket’s directions.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Dipper burst through the doors of the balcony and looked over the horizon. The sun was bright in the sky, it’s light bouncing off the glass windows of the shopping centre. He eyed a window cleaner cart just below the railing, and figured that that was probably where he needed to go. He quickly vaulted the bar and dropped down onto the cart, landing with his feet spread wide and his cybernetic hand on the floor. It left a sizeable dent in the metal, a stark reminder of it’s artificial nature.</p><p> </p><p>“McGucket, I’m on the window cleaner cart,” he said. “What now?”</p><p> </p><p>“Pull the lever and lower yourself down to the next roof,” McGucket responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” Dipper mumbled, fiddling with the handle. <em>Don’t look down don’t look down…</em> he told himself, desperate not to trigger his fear of heights. He never liked calling it that, because it was more a fear of what would happen when he hit the ground than anything else. That was one of the reasons why the skydive during Weirdmageddon had been one of the scariest (and most exhilarating) experiences of his life. He’d kept panicking over the obvious question of ‘What if my parachute doesn’t work?,’ but after Mabel and Stan spent fifteen minutes coercing him into doing it, he caved.</p><p> </p><p><em>Just keep the lever steady,</em> he thought as the cart reached the required height. It stopped abruptly in mid-air, before he jumped off, onto the roof of the adjacent building and radioed McGucket.</p><p> </p><p>“What now?” he asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Just keep running forward ‘til I tell ‘ya otherwise.”</p><p> </p><p>“Got it.” As he ran, he noticed a gap between the building he was on and the next one, prompting him to speed up. He vaulted the gap, his feet slipping slightly. He righted himself before he could fall and continued on. As he ran, a train passed by. He could see some of its passengers looking and pointing (it was a fairly odd sight to see a fourteen year-old in a trench coat vaulting across buildings in Moscow), some even taking pictures and videos. Dipper grimaced, knowing right then and there that the secret could be out: if those videos ended up on social media and someone from school found them, he’d have to lie – and that was one thing he was not good at. He could keep a poker face, but he couldn’t come up with a foolproof story on the spot like Mabel or Stan.</p><p> </p><p>He pushed the thought aside, opting to dwell on it in a less high-stakes situation. Whether it was back in their captivity or him being as free as a bird depended on whether his stamina decided to fail him or not (he’d been doing a lot of physical activity recently, and even after getting a full night’s sleep, his muscles were still sore from the day before). After receiving another set of instructions form McGucket, he ran over to a door sticking up from the roof and tore the handle off, taking the lock mechanism with it.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe there was a silver lining to being an amputee after all.</p><p> </p><p>He ran inside and made his way down the spiral staircase, making sure to keep his feet at the outer edge so he didn’t slip. He made the mistake of walking at the centre of those staircases before, which had been the cause of his first broken bone. That hadn’t been a fun day even before that incident, and it was also the day he’d sworn off believing in god, or any other sort of deity. The problem was that when he was younger, he believed all of it. He was about six, so he basically believed anything that the teachers told him (‘they can’t possibly be wrong, it was their job to teach’ was his (flawed) logic there), even though him and Mabel’s parents raised then non religious. They had had to go to a funeral for some random cousin of his mother’s that he’d never even heard of, let alone met. He remembered sitting in one of the pews playing tic-tac-toe with Mabel whilst the pastor droned on about ‘god’s plan’ this, and ‘god’s plan’ that. Then, his grandfather from Helen’s side of the family spoke up. He’d been looking confused and anxious the whole day, and had clearly been doing some thinking. He’d stood up and announced that he didn’t believe any of it (during a funeral ceremony was probably not the best time, but he wasn’t very socially aware).</p><p> </p><p>It had shocked Dipper to hear the echo chamber be challenged, he’d never even the opposite viewpoint before. Originally, he’d been skeptical (it was his nature these days, and that was the event that had caused the trait to manifest), but the more he thought about it, the more he realised how much sense his grandfather was making. They’d spent the rest of the day talking about religion and sorts, and he was an agnostic by the end of the day. These days, he’d identify more as a straight-up atheist than anything else, as the fact that people, actually believed that stuff baffled him. But as flawed as he thought the logic was, he accepted it. Falling down the staircase later that day had just solidified his belief even more, simply out of spite that the incident had caused him to break his arm.</p><p> </p><p>He reached the bottom of the stairs and burst through a heavy wooden door, interrupting what he could only assume was a prayer. A few people made confused expressions at the sound, but kept their eyes shut and hands pressed together. Quietly, he tiptoed over to an identical door on the other side and went through it, pulling it shut on his way out. As he exited the church, he looked around once more. He was on a lower roof than before, but still fairly high off the ground. He dashed forward and after jumping over a few gaps, reached the edge of the last building. He stopped right on the precipice, flailing his arms about in random directions to stop himself from falling.</p><p> </p><p>“Yer gonna have ‘ta climb down the drainpipe,” McGucket said, startling Dipper.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” the brunet breathed. “Okay.” He sat down on the edge as to shorten the potential drop and with his hands clasped firmly around the edge, let himself drop. His left hand failed to hold on, falling to his side. His prothetic had a much better grip, but whether it was by pure luck or it’s greater strength he didn’t know. He quickly swung himself round onto the pipe, pulling his arms around it as tightly as he could manage. He let his grip loosen slightly and began slowly sliding down to the bottom. He let go about a metre and a half off the bridge, his feet leaving a noticeable crack in the glass. Confused, he looked around, before realising that he was on a bridge with a glass roof. Running forward, he made the final drop to ground level.</p><p> </p><p>He took a deep breath, mentally congratulating himself. He’d never been good with heights, so it was a bit of a morale boost to have barely even thought about it. He leant his hands on his knees, stopping to catch his breath. His hair was damp with sweat, he had a stitch, and had also begun to realise that running a marathon in searing heat wearing a sweater and a heavy coat wasn’t the best idea.</p><p> </p><p>McGucket’s voice crackled through the radio once more, this time telling him, “Davian’s at the train station. Go down the stairs, take the escalator down on the left, then go through the gates to the train in front.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s getting on a train?” Dipper panted, his breath failing him, causing his voice to come out as nothing more than a hoarse whisper. “He’s going to escape.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s not on the train yet. You can still make it!”</p><p> </p><p>That was Ford, not McGucket. Hearing his idol’s voice gave him a boost of encouragement, prompting him to stand up, wipe the sweat off his brow, and run like hell. The entrance to the train station was nothing but a small staircase leading to the underground system. It was only about twenty metres away, but it felt like miles to Dipper, who was battered and bruised from both his rescue and the catacomb fight.  His heart hammered in his chest as he reached it pushing past many Russians and bumbling tourists. As he did, he accidentally knocked over a small boy, who looked to be about nine. He didn’t seem injured, but his mother was shooting Dipper a death glare.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry!” he yelled over his shoulder as he ran away. As much as he wanted to stop and help, he had a job to do. He turned to his left and eyed the escalator, cursing when he saw just how crowded it was. He’d never be able to get through in time, so he did the only logical thing:</p><p> </p><p>He jumped on the centre divide and slid down it like a madman.</p><p> </p><p>In truth, it was something he’d always wanted to do. Before going to the Falls, he’d do it with stair railing in Piedmont (but then again, the most risky thing he’d done before going to Gravity Falls was climb up on his roof to watch the stars. He did that most nights in Piedmont now, it was a good way to take his mind off everything). He’d seen people do it in movies, and as much as Hollywood glorified things in films, they were pretty spot-on about this one. It was <em>awesome.</em> The pre-Gravity Falls Dipper would be screaming in terror, afraid he was going to fall off.</p><p> </p><p>But that wasn’t him anymore. He wasn’t as cautious as he used to be, he was much more willing to take a risk. Granted, he still needed at least a framework of a plan, but experiences such as the cloning machine incident had taught him to be a little more carefree, take a page out of Mabel’s book and just have fun.</p><p> </p><p>He reached the bottom and landed on his feet perfectly, the momentum gathered from the slide not allowing him to stop even for a second. He could see Davian about to board the train. He was so close, he couldn’t fail now. The gates were coming up, and buying a ticket wasn’t an option. He vaulted over them completely, catching the attention of various security guards.</p><p> </p><p>Davian was on the train, but the door hadn’t quite closed yet.</p><p> </p><p>He could still make it.</p><p> </p><p>The doors began to shut, the train starting to move across the tracks ever so slightly. Light glanced off of the perfect handhold, a long silver strip, sticking out from the otherwise curved body of the carriage. And at the last moment, an idea struck him.</p><p> </p><p>It was stupid.</p><p> </p><p>Ridiculous.</p><p> </p><p>Utterly insane.</p><p> </p><p>And definitely something that you’d see in a movie.</p><p> </p><p>Davian was almost gone, the train was exiting the station. The guards were catching up to him, each yelling what he could only assume were Russian curse words.</p><p> </p><p>The train started to pick up speed, but at the last moment, Dipper took a leap of faith and grabbed onto the strip.</p><p> </p><p>The train was gone, with Dipper on board. The security guards were yelling at each other, and behind them, an elderly British tourist poked his head out and tapped his wife on the shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“He’s keen to get ‘ome.”</p><p> </p><p>Dipper’s prosthetic dug into the strip, his fingers leaving dents in it. His eyes were wide with fear, the tunnel’s wall only centimetres away from his back. He pressed himself onto the carriage as much as he could, his face smooshing against the glass. He could see Davian looking up at him, smiling. As soon as they got out of the tunnel, he got up and walked towards the window.</p><p> </p><p>“Well done Mason,” he sneered, his voice slightly muffled by the glass. “You know—” he pointed at Dipper and pursed his lips—“You’ve impressed me.” There was no hint of malice in his tone, only truth. “You nearly got me. I’ll admit it, I underestimated you.” He tilted his head slightly, placing his hand in his pocket. “How many fourteen year-olds do you know that can do that, I mean, come on, you’ve gotta admit that that was pretty cool, right?”<br/><br/>“Before you ask,” Dipper said, having seen enough movies to know what comes next. “I’m not going to join me just because you buttered me up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Eh, it was worth a shot,” Davian shrugged. “Let me give you a tip,” he said, grimacing slightly. “I’m not like Gideon or Aida. I won’t hesitate to kill you if you get in my way. But if you leave me alone, I’ll return the favour.” The tannoy perked up, announcing something in Russian. “That’s my cue,” Davian smirked.</p><p> </p><p>As he walked off, Dipper pressed himself against the carriage again to avoid the tunnel they’d just entered. The train rumbled to a stop and Dipper jumped off onto the pathway. He crossed the painted yellow line quickly and ran up the same stairs Davian had. He caught a glimpse of silver hair in the crowd and began to make his way towards him. As he pushed past a taller man, he noticed people stopping and pointing to something outside. A faint rumble could be heard, only getting louder and louder with each passing step. As he got up to ground level, he saw Davian climbing up a rope ladder which hung from a helicopter. It began to pull away, and in a last ditch effort, Dipper leapt at the rope. His fingers grazed it, but he just missed. It escaped his grip, rising into the air. He pulled himself up and looked to Davian. The Brit gave him a small salute before climbing into the body of the chopper and cutting the rope, letting the ladder fall the the ground.</p><p> </p><p>The door was shut and Davian was gone. A crowd of tourists had gathered around the scene, press coming in with their gigantic cameras and pointing them at the helicopter. Eventually, they turned to gaze at Dipper. They had no idea the magnitude of what they’d just witnessed, of what he’d just failed to do.</p><p> </p><p>But he knew.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, that was the longest chapter I’ve ever written. I decided that I needed to give Soos and McGucket more screen time (page time?), so I decided to just go do that. I also took this as an opportunity to get into Ford’s head a bit more, as it’s probably necessary. I hope you like the relationship between him and Elsa, and the subtle hints I dropped about how Davian knows Ford (that’ll be revealed in full soon, although it’s not exactly a thriller). One more thing, I’m sorry if my interpretation of Dipper’s views on religion offended you, that’s just my personal take, and the way he comes round to atheism is actually relatively similar to how I came around to it. I’m hoping to keep up this longer length, especially as the later chapters have entire page long summaries in my outline. Next chapter, Dipper will face a shocking betrayal, the plot lines will intertwine and Ford will explain his connection to Davian.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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